Advancements in Nanotechnology - Research Paper Example

ADVANCEMENTS OF NA CHNOLOGY There is a general agreement in scientific circles that nanoscience and na chnology in their closeconnectedness represent the most modern scientific field. From the academic perspective, nanotechnology and nanoscience study objects, their qualities and opportunities that practically have size of 1-100 nanometer (Foster, 2009). Both nanoscience and nanotechnology represent almost perfect fulfillment of contemporary science for a number of reasons. It has continuously been characterized as a "new Frontier" (Barben et al, 2008), an "emerging field", "emergent, highly interdisciplinary field," a "transdisciplinary research front" and a "rigorous scientific field" with "many signs of protodisciplinarity" (Milburn, 2004). It eradicates the limits between research and development and practical application as well as between science and engineering field, having formed at the intersection of several fields in science and engineering. Since the late 1990s nanotechnology has witnessed extensive investment and attention from corporate and governmental sectors as "a linchpin for creating economic wealth and solving a vast number of societal problems" (Barben et al., 2008, p. 982). Nanotechnology and nanoscience united efforts of governments, venture investors, NGOs, and small enterprises. Bainbridge (2004) explained that there are two very different nanotechnology movements in existence today. One is closely tied to chemistry, physics and materials science, based in research institutions and working to create actual technical breakthroughs. The other is based largely in science fiction literature, but has a profound influence on the perspectives of people who are not scientists or engineers. Nanotechnology, according to N. Katherine Hayles (2004), has become a potent cultural signifier attracting scientific research, along with entrepreneurial interest, government funding and fictional speculation. It represents "not so much a theoretical breakthrough as a concatenation of previously known theories, new instrumentation, discoveries of new phenomena at the nano-level, and synergistic overlaps between disciplines that appear to be converging into a new transdisciplinary research front" (p.11). Nanotechnology is a relatively new field, but over the past decade it has already strongly influenced the reorganization of the disciplinary landscape of science and engineering worldwide (Schummer, 2007). It is an emergent field "taking form at the interstices of several fields of science and engineering" (Wajcman, 2008) (p. 816). Nanostructures have been studied in a variety of contexts throughout scientific history. Colloidal solutions, block copolymer microdomains, integrated circuits, scanning tunneling microscopes, the molecular and microstructure of steel and aluminum alloys, and the crystal structures of countless proteins and cellular structures provide just glimpses of the numerous nanostructures that chemists, physicists, materials scientists, and biologists have studied for decades (Ozin & Arsenault, 2005). Over the past decades, scientific investigations have grown increasingly broad and encompassing, with many research efforts relying on techniques and insights from neighboring fields to address ever more complex challenges and to pursue ever more enticing opportunities (Foster, 2009). Consequently, a new paradigm of truly interdisciplinary research has emerged that promises to accelerate the generation of knowledge not just at the nanoscale, but in the entire scientific endeavor. Whereas nanomaterials were before simply used and studied as a means to an end, now formally distinct communities of researchers have begun to study nanoscale phenomena as part of a dedicated research effort (Foster, 2009). Because nanoscience crosses such a wide range of disciplines, the challenges addressed, tools employed, and materials created are extensive. It is possible to create general distinctions based on a variety of classifications, though two methods are the most prominent. The first classification relies on the application type most closely associated with the materials (e.g. electronic data processing, thermoelectric energy recovery, optical waveguiding). However, since this type of grouping can be overly broad, the most commonly used taxonomy typically categorizes materials based upon composition (e.g. metallic, polymeric) with additional property-related modifiers to aid in classification. Grouping can be broad (e.g. inorganic) or as specific (e.g. plasmonic noble metal nanorods) as is needed (Foster, 2009). This classification paradigm gives rise to the most common type of categorical labels such as anisotropic semiconducting nanoparticles or ampliphilic micelluar networks, for example. Note that many complementary taxonomies can be constructed with the following model (See Figure 1). Needless to say, the functional applications of these materials crosses these boundaries, leading to their use in nearly any application imaginable, ranging from information processing and storage, biosensors, efficient catalysis, energy generation and storage, building materials or any other of a wide range of applications. Figure 1. Example of two different taxonomies that can be generated leading to the classification of nanoprisms and nanocubes. From the wide range of structures, metallic nanostructures are commonly considered to be one of the most important and intensely studied classes. This is largely due to the unique ability of these structures to exhibit a variety of nanoconfinement-based behaviors. Two of the most interesting behaviors are localized surface plasmon resonance (along with related examples such as surface plasmon polaritons) of noble metal structures such as Au or Ag and magnetoresistive behavior (along with other magnetic effects such as superparamagnetism) of magnetic structures such as Ni or Fe (Ozin & Arsenault, 2005). Surface plasmon resonance can be described as the collective oscillation of electrons over fixed positive ions (i.e. atoms) in a metal and occurs at the interface of a conductive negative dielectric constant material in contact with a positive insulating dielectric (Ozin & Arsenault, 2005). Over the past few decades, plasmons have been used in highly sensitive detection schemes (i.e. SERS or SPR spectroscopy) (Schatz & Van Duyne, 2002) and more recently have been explored for use in highly efficient waveguides, lenses or other subwavelength light manipulation technologies. Magnetoresistance is the tendency of a material to change its electric resistance in the presence of a magnetic field (Ozin & Arsenault, 2005). While initially observed as minor effect in metals ( Read More