The science and technology of manipulating a matter to the level of atoms, molecules, and supramolecules presents us with Nanotechnology.
With the conception of every new technology, we get flooded with disturbing notions and predictions.
For that, we need to understand that technology has been and will be the most significant part of human society’s evolution and is unavoidable. What we could avoid is the misuse and dangers of that technology.
We have already entered the nanotechnology era
Slowly, but steadily the applications and innovations with the technology are expanding profoundly. Some of the existing domains to nanotechnology being:
Green Nanotechnology
- Solar Cells
- Bioremediation
- Clean technology
- Environmental Microbiology
- Green chemistry
- Industrial Microbiology
Nanobiotechnology
- Nanomedicine
- DNA nanotechnology, Lipid nanotechnology
- Agriculture
- Nanobiomechanics
Industrial applications
- Nano-foods, Consumer goods (in sports, textiles, cosmetics, etc.)
- Aerospace and vehicle
- Military (Biological sensors, Uniform material, communication, and Weapons)
- Construction (cement, glass and other resources)
The nanotechnology’s two of the most envisaged area of future nanotechnology inventions are concerning the human body and Weaponry.
Nanotech has a rapidly growing and large future market. The applications of nanotechnology today are already pretty voluminous, and so is the future potential of it.
Some notable nanotechnology inventions and predictions for 2019 & beyond:
The breath-giving inventions to healthcare and well-being
Nanotech is pledging solutions to various chronic and fatal diseases such as cancer, Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, orthopedic problems, illnesses related to the blood, lungs, neurological, and cardiovascular system.
Also, according to a report, in 2018, the Global Healthcare Nanotechnology market size was 160,800 million $ and is expected to reach 306,100 million $ by the end of 2025.
For health monitoring, scientists are working on-
- A nanochip; fabricated to a living body as wearables. Even, with nanosensors, the nanosensors are being tested and experimented upon, to be injected and sustain successfully inside a human body.
- Black Silicon material that fights off bacteria has recently been proven to be potent enough against an array of gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria along with endospores.
Also, Carnegie Mellon University’s Chris Bettinger & Jay Whitacre discovered that cuttlefish ink supplies just the right chemistry and nanostructure to drive tiny, ingested electronic devices.
Virtual Canvases
The bulky headsets could end up in the dumpster.
Nanotech may answer to the problem of heavily built-up sets by contact lenses. Bellevue, WA-based Innovega- Optik platform, embedded a center filter and display lens at the contact lens’s center.
The optical elements are said to be smaller than the eye’s pupil and do not hinder the normal vision.
The company stated that it could deliver games and pictures that are truly immersive and “mimic IMAX performance.”
Nano-Absorption and Self-healing
The chemistry professor at the College of Wooster (Ohio), Paul Edmiston, and some graduate students were trying to design nanostructured silica glass, to change colors in the presence of vapors.
But in turn, they created ‘Osorb’; the swellable glass material. Paul Edmiston explained, “Instead of being a solid, they had the ability to swell,” “Yeah, the color changed, but it also soaked up the entire test solution”.
They added more solutions to it, and it sucked it up too while generating an impressive amount of force.
There have already been some nano-sensors & nano techniques for wear and tear and to make materials smaller, respectively.
Now, creating more energy-efficient self-healing materials are under the lenses of researchers.
This could support almost everything, from aircraft to electronics, obliviating small fractures, and more.
New energy sources
By using nanotexturing and nanotubes with other nanotechnologies, it has already started playing a serious role in generating renewable energy and sources, from creating petite and powerful batteries to enabling solar panels to transmute more sunlight into electricity.
The nanotech might also be able to expatriate tiny devices into the surroundings to harvest energy from air, light, temperature variations, water flow, and other potential sources.
The future generation might be able to get rid of the many components in an electronic device.
With the help of conductive ink from silver nanoparticles, circuit boards could already be drawn very smoothly, according to many researchers like at the University of Illinois.
A line drawn by the ink acts like a wire carrying out current which suffices the energy requirement for an LED or an antenna.
MIT scientists have discovered a previously unknown phenomenon that can cause powerful waves of energy to shoot through tiny wires termed “carbon nanotubes”.
The CNT’s finding is serving as a significant course in creating and discovering many new sources and modes to electricity.
And This is Just the Tip to The Nanotech Iceberg,
It is clear as crystal that nanotechnology will play a significant role in every field. Together with the other superior technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, IoT, big data, virtual and augmented reality, and cloud computing, the nanotech has an extraordinary aptitude for innovations and outstanding revelations.
Also Read: 4 Technology Predictions for Near Future