Nanotechnology is a rapidly growing field, with the market projected to expand from $10.5 billion USD in 2006 to $115 billion by 2012. While some refer to anything on the nanoscale as “nanotechnology,” the original definition involved active nanoscale devices engaged in molecular fabrication. A library of nanoscale devices is growing, including rotaxanes, graphenes, and nanotube-based electrostatic nanomotors. A distinction should be made between nanoscale devices and nanostructured materials, with the former being more advanced and part of the push towards molecular fabrication. Additional nanoscale devices include nanotube threaded lipid membranes, the Rice University nanocar, and semiconductor polymer nanostructures.
Nanotechnology is a new field that is virtually exploding. The nanotechnology market was $10.5 billion US dollars (USD) in 2006, with studies projecting the field to expand to $115 billion by 2012. Nanotechnology has become so popular that many scientists and journalists have started referring to anything on the nanoscale as “nanotechnology”, such as current computer chips. This is despite the fact that this contradicts the original definition of nanotechnology, which involved active nanoscale devices engaged in molecular fabrication. We don’t yet have these nanoscale fabricators (sometimes called “assemblers”), but many important proof-of-concept nanoscale active devices are being created with some regularity.
A library of nanoscale devices is rapidly growing. Rotaxanes are circular molecules used as molecular switches. Graphenes have been used to make transistors just one atom thick and 50 atoms long. Researchers at Lawrence Berkeley Livermore Labs made significant advances on nanoscale devices in the early 00s, including a nanotube-based electrostatic nanomotor, a molecular actuator, and a nanoelectromechanical relaxation oscillator. The nanomotor has a diameter of about 500 nm, or 300 times smaller than a human hair, and is the smallest motor ever built.
A distinction needs to be made between nanoscale devices, which actually do things and have meaning on their own, and nanostructured materials, which are mostly passive objects that need to be aggregated in large quantities to do something interesting. Nanostructured materials are more primitive in comparison, although they are still the state of the art of modern technology. The creation of nanoscale devices is part of the push towards molecular nanotechnology, or molecular fabrication, in which human-scale products would be created through a bottom-up process, placing each atom individually in a predetermined place.
Additional nanoscale devices include a nanotube threaded lipid membrane, which can displace small amounts of fluid, even single molecules; the Rice University nanocar, which uses buckytube wheels, “walking DNA,” DNA molecules that lift off and land with molecular “legs” just like a walking human; semiconductor polymer nanostructures with numerous applications including lighting and optical cables, and dozens more beyond the scope of this article. Nanoscale devices are definitely an area to watch in the coming years.
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