United States: Nanotechnology - the Next Industrial Revolution

"Nanotechnology cannot be defined in terms of dimensions alone. In fact, it represents a convergence of traditional disciplines of physics, chemistry and biology at a common research frontier." Busquin, 2000

Nanotechnology, the science and technology of precisely controlling the structure of matter at the molecular level, is widely viewed as the most significant technological frontier currently being explored. Materials and devices at the nanoscale (a nanometer is one billionth of one meter) hold vast promise for innovation in virtually every industry and public endeavor including health, electronics, transportation, the environment and national security, and has been heralded by many as "the next industrial revolution."

The ability to create materials from building blocks the size of molecules will unleash unprecedented capabilities. Autos and airplanes, chemicals and plastics, computers and chips, cosmetics and drugs – all of these industries, and plenty more, will benefit from this new science. With a projected worldwide market of $1 trillion annually in 10 to 15 years, nanotechnology will bring revolutionary new ways of manufacturing, novel electronics, improved healthcare, chemical plants employing nanostructures, transportation using novel materials and electronics, sustainable agriculture and novel pharmaceuticals made via bioprocessing.

Heavyweight companies like IBM, Lucent Technologies, Hewlett-Packard, Samsung and Siemens are investing significant funds into nanotechnololgy research. Venture capitalists and corporate funds will plow $1 billion into nanotech investments this year, twice what they invested in 2000.

Nanoscale technology is not just another step toward miniaturization, but a qualitatively new scale translating into new ways of thinking. Nanotechnology fundamentally changes the way materials and devices will be produced in the future. The new science is dominated by quantum mechanics, material confinement in small structures, and other unique properties, phenomena and processes.

Innovative nanoscale properties and functions will be achieved through the control of matter at the building block level: atom-by-atom, molecule-by-molecule and nanostructure-by-nanostructure. Nanotechnology will include the integration of nanoscale structures into larger material components, systems and architectures. Within these larger scale structures, the control will remain at the nanoscale. For example, airplanes may one day be able to have technology that will repair a wing mid-flight once a problem is detected such as a tear in the wing or a crack in the engine.

Working smaller has already led to the generation of tools capable of manipulating individual atoms. Nanotechnological tools have dimensions ranging from about 1-100 nanometers. These devices include varied concepts, such as laser driven nanomotors, computing and data storage on the nanoscale, nanogears, nanoscopic machines or assemblers, replicators programmed to build more assemblers, molecular tweezers designed to move atoms or molecules from one place to another, laboratories on a chip, molecular bearings with unique frictional properties (e.g. ‘Buckeyballs’), human organ restoration using engineered tissue and fluid transport by way of carbon nanotubes. For example, laser driven nanomotors will provide feasible mechanisms for introducing controlled rotational motion into nano-scale objects.

Much like cells in living organisms manage the multitude of tasks needed to support life on the molecular level, nanotechnology further includes molecular manufacturing, or building things one atom or molecule at a time. Utilizing the well-understood chemical and physical properties of atoms and molecules, nanotechnology involves the construction of novel molecular devices/tools possessing remarkable properties. The trick is to manipulate atoms or molecules individually, and to place them in the desired location to provide the desired effect depending on the tool employed such as fixing the plane.

Nanostructures are already an important class of material in many areas of energy production and storage, as exemplified by the catalysts employed in the petroleum industry. Sub-wavelength optical devices and systems that are capable of manipulating light using structures that are substantially shorter than the wavelength of light chosen have opportunities in the construction of a number of devices, from optical filters to switches in nanometer scale systems having good performance and low cost.

In materials science, designer materials for use in construction with self-repair properties, or nanocomposites having self-aggregating properties, will revolutionize construction. Self-assembly properties are ever present in biological systems. Knowledge of biology will be passed on to other sciences.

Increasing nanotechnological capabilities will also enhance the basic studies and understanding of cell biology. The cell is based on the operation of "nanomachines" of many types, from relatively simple catalysts or enzymes to complex systems, including ribosomes, chloroplasts, Golgi apparatus, components involved in DNA replication during mitosis, and rotary and linear motors. Biomimetics, or the ability to mimic biological functions on the molecular scale, will further lead to the development of novel devices and structures based on existing cellular machinery. Understanding the molecular level functioning of the cell will provide suggestions of designs for nanodevices, strategies for using nanostructures in new types of functions, and components for new types of devices. This understanding may also lead to the novel utilization of these existing complex cellular organelles, such as ribosomes, membrane pumps, photon storage, energy transfer, and molecular motors and the development of new nanoscale devices based on these principles.

Also expected in this science is the emergence of entirely new phenomena in chemistry and physics. The only limitation here is the imagination.