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Nanochemistry
Nanotechnology
Nanotechnology (sometimes shortened to "nanotech") is the study of manipulating matter on an atomic and molecular scale. Generally, nanotechnology deals with developing materials, devices, or other structures possessing at least one dimension sized from 1 to 100 nanometers. Quantum mechanical effects are important at this quantum-realm scale. Nanotechnology is very diverse, ranging from extensions of conventional device physics to completely new approaches based upon molecular, from developing new materials with dimensions on the nanoscale to investigating whether we can directly control matter on the atomic scale. Nanotechnology entails the application of fields of science as diverse as surface science, organic chemistry, molecular biology, semiconductor physics, micro fabrication, etc. There is much debate on the future implications of nanotechnology. Nanotechnology may be able to create many new materials and devices with a vast range of applications, such as in medicine, electronics, biomaterials and energy production. On the other hand, nanotechnology raises many of the same issues as any new technology, including concerns about the toxicity and environmental impact of nanomaterials, and their potential effects on global economics, as well as speculation about various doomsday scenarios. These concerns have led to a debate among advocacy groups and governments on whether special regulation of nanotechnology is warranted.

Fundamental concepts
Nanotechnology is the engineering of functional systems at the molecular scale. This covers both current work and concepts that are more advanced. In its original sense, nanotechnology refers to the projected ability to construct items from the bottom up, using techniques and tools being developed today to make complete, high performance products. One nanometer (nm) is one billionth, or 10 , of a meter. By comparison, typical carbon-carbon bond lengths, or the spacing between these atoms in a molecule, are in the range 0.120.15 nm, and a DNA double-helix has a diameter around 2 nm. On the other hand, the smallest cellular life-forms, the bacteria of the genus Mycoplasma, are around 200 nm in length. By convention, nanotechnology is taken as the scale range 1 to 100 nm following the definition used by the National Nanotechnology Initiative in the US. The lower limit is set by the size of atoms (hydrogen has the smallest atoms, which are approximately a quarter of a nm diameter) since nanotechnology must build its devices from atoms and molecules. The upper limit is more or less arbitrary but is around the size that phenomena not observed in larger structures start to become apparent and can be made use of in the nano device. These new
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phenomena make nanotechnology distinct from devices which are merely miniaturized versions of an equivalent macroscopic device; such devices are on a larger scale and come under the description of microtechnology. To put that scale in another context, the comparative size of a nanometer to a meter is the same as that of a marble to the size of the earth. Or another way of putting it: a nanometer is the amount an average man's beard grows in the time it takes him to raise the razor to his face. Two main approaches are used in nanotechnology. In the "bottom-up" approach, materials and devices are built from molecular components which assemble themselves chemically by principles of molecular recognition. In the "top-down" approach, nano-objects are constructed from larger entities without atomiclevel control. Areas of physics such as nanoelectronics, nanomechanics, nanophotonics and nanoionics have evolved during the last few decades to provide a basic scientific foundation of nanotechnology.

Nanochemistry
Nanochemistry is a new branch of nanoscience related with the production and the reactions of nanoparticles and their compounds. It is concerned with the unique properties associated with assemblies of atoms or molecules on a scale between that of the individual building blocks and the bulk material (from 1 to 1000 nm). At this level, quantum effects can be significant, and also new ways of carrying out chemical reactions become possible. Professor Geoffrey Ozin of the University of Toronto is regarded as the father of nanochemistry. "His visionary paper "Nanochemistry - Synthesis in Diminishing Dimensions" stimulated a whole new field: it proposed how the principles of chemistry could be applied to the bottom-up synthesis of materials "over all length scales" through "building-block hierarchical construction principles": that is, by using molecular/nano-scale building blocks "programmed" with chemical information that will spontaneously self-assemble, in a controlled way, into structures that traverse a wide range of length scales. This was a whole new way of thinking at the time." This science use methodologies from the synthetic chemistry and the material's chemistry to obtain nanomaterials with specific sizes, shapes, surface properties, defects, self-assembly properties, designed to accomplish specific functions and uses

Applications of Nanochemistry
The applications of nanochemistry have a wide range which covers from the semi-conductors electronics, to the medicine. Nanochemistry uses semi-conductors that only conduct electricity in specific conditions. As the semi-conductors are much smaller than normal conductors the product can be much smaller. There is evidence certain nanoparticles of silver are useful to inhibit some viruses and bacteria. Nanochemistry is being used to build high-tech armor and military weapons and for military uses.

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Current research

Diagram on top left: Graphical representation of a rotaxane useful as a molecular switch. Diagram on top right: This DNA tetrahedron is an artificially designed nanostructure of the type made in the field of DNA nanotechnology. Each edge of the tetrahedron is a 20 base pair DNA double helix, and each vertex is a three-arm junction. Diagram at center bottom: This device transfers energy from nano-thin layers of quantum wells tonanocrystals above them, causing the nanocrystals to emit visible light.

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Nanomaterials
The nanomaterials field includes subfields which develop or study materials having unique properties arising from their nanoscale dimensions. Interface and colloid science has given rise to many materials which may be useful in nanotechnology, such as carbon nanotubes and other fullerenes, and various nanoparticles and nanorods. Nanomaterials with fast ion transport are related also to nanoionics and nanoelectronics. Nanoscale materials can also be used for bulk applications; most present commercial applications of nanotechnology are of this flavor. Progress has been made in using these materials for medical applications; see Nanomedicine. Nanoscale materials are sometimes used in solar cells which combats the cost of traditional Silicon solar cells Development of applications incorporating semiconductor nanoparticles to be used in the next generation of products, such as display technology, lighting, solar cells and biological imaging; see quantum dots.

Products with Nanotechnology

Sunscreen - Many sunscreens contain nanoparticles of zinc oxide or titanium oxide. Older sunscreen formulas use larger particles, which is what gives most sunscreens their whitish color. Smaller particles are less visible, meaning that when you rub the sunscreen into your skin, it doesn't give you a whitish tinge. Self-cleaning glass - A company called Pilkington offers a product they call Activ Glass, which uses nanoparticles to make the glassphotocatalytic and hydrophilic. The photocatalytic effect means that when UV radiation from light hits the glass, nanoparticles become energized and begin to break down and loosen organic molecules on the glass (in other words, dirt). Hydrophilic means that when water makes contact with the glass, it spreads across the glass evenly, which helps wash the glass clean. Clothing - Scientists are using nanoparticles to enhance your clothing. By coating fabrics with a thin layer of zinc oxide nanoparticles, manufacturers can create clothes that give better protection from UV radiation. Some clothes have nanoparticles in the form of little hairs or whiskers that help repel water and other materials, making the clothing stain-resistant. Scratch-resistant coatings - Engineers discovered that adding aluminum silicate nanoparticles to scratch-resistant polymer coatings made the coatings more effective, increasing resistance to chipping and scratching. Scratch-resistant coatings are common on everything from cars to eyeglass lenses.

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Antimicrobial bandages - Scientist Robert Burrell created a process to manufacture antibacterial bandages using nanoparticles of silver. Silver ions block microbes' cellular respiration. In other words, silver smothers harmful cells, killing them.

Conclusion

New products incorporating nanotechnology are coming out every day. Wrinkle-resistant fabrics, deeppenetrating cosmetics, liquid crystal displays (LCD) and other conveniences using nanotechnology are on the market. Before long, we'll see dozens of other products that take advantage of nanotechnology ranging from Intel microprocessors to bio-nanobatteries, capacitors only a few nanometers thick. While this is exciting, it's only the tip of the iceberg as far as how nanotechnology may impact us in the future.

Nanotechnology may become the most influential force in the world since the emergence of the World Wide Web. It may end world hunger, increase the speed of memory chips, modify the human body or become a devastating weapon.