Nanotechnology usually conjures up one of two images in people’s minds. The first is of a miniature army of friendly robots, floating through the body neutralising diseases. The second is of a scientific experiment gone horribly wrong, an unstoppable wave of microscopic machines turning everything in its path to grey goo, as publicly fretted over by Prince Charles.
In reality nanotechnology is a cache all term used to describe almost anything developed that is measured on a scale of billionths of a metre (a nanometre is all of ten atoms across). As such, it can be applied to work being undertaken in numerous industries and scientific disciplines, from applied physics and materials science to mechanical and electrical engineering.
The term ‘nanotechnology’ was used for the first time by Japanese Professor Norio Taniguchi in 1974. In 1989 one of the defining moments in nanotechnology occurred when Don Eigler spelt out the words IBM using xenon atoms – it represented the first time in history that scientists could place atoms exactly where they wanted to.
A further development took place in at the University of Sussex when Richard Smalley and Robert Curl, discovered the carbon 60 molecule – known as Buckyballs – for which they were awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry is 1996. Buckyballs can be used as molecular building blocks.
Uses for nanotechnology are as varied as the multiple disciplines involved, but some longer term uses are expected to include medical diagnostic tools and sensors; food packaging that will change colour when food starts to spoil; photovoltaics; direct hydrogen production; tasteless drinks that could be activated in a microwave to produce whatever flavour the consumer desires; flexible display technologies and e-paper; composites containing nanotubes, which could be used for superconductivity; new forms of computer memory with huge storage capacity; and printable electronic circuits.