Main article: History of nanotechnology

Although nanotechnology is a relatively recent development in scientific research, the

development of its central concepts happened over a longer period of time. The
emergence of nanotechnology in the 1980s was caused by the convergence of
experimental advances such as the invention of the scanning tunneling microscope in
1981 and the discovery of fullerenes in 1985, with the elucidation and popularization
of a conceptual framework for the goals of nanotechnology beginning with the 1986
publication of the book Engines of Creation.

The scanning tunneling microscope, an instrument for imaging surfaces at the atomic
level, was developed in 1981 by Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer at IBM Zurich
Research Laboratory, for which they received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1986.[2][3]
Fullerenes were discovered in 1985 by Harry Kroto, Richard Smalley, and Robert
Curl, who together won the 1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry.[4][5]

Around the same time, K. Eric Drexler developed and popularized the concept of
nanotechnology and founded the field of molecular nanotechnology. In 1979, Drexler
encountered Richard Feynman's 1959 talk "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom".
The term "nanotechnology", originally coined by Norio Taniguchi in 1974, was
unknowingly appropriated by Drexler in his 1986 book Engines of Creation: The
Coming Era of Nanotechnology, which proposed the idea of a nanoscale "assembler"
which would be able to build a copy of itself and of other items of arbitrary
complexity. He also first published the term "grey goo" to describe what might
happen if a hypothetical self-replicating molecular nanotechnology went out of
control. Drexler's vision of nanotechnology is often called "Molecular
Nanotechnology" (MNT) or "molecular manufacturing," and Drexler at one point
proposed the term "zettatech" which never became popular.

In the early 2000s, the field was subject to growing public awareness and controversy,
with prominent debates about both its potential implications, exemplified by the
Royal Society's report on nanotechnology,[6] as well as the feasibility of the
applications envisioned by advocates of molecular nanotechnology, which culminated
in the public debate between Eric Drexler and Richard Smalley in 2001 and 2003.[7]
Governments moved to promote and fund research into nanotechnology with
programs such as the National Nanotechnology Initiative.

The early 2000s also saw the beginnings of commercial applications of

nanotechnology, although these were limited to bulk applications of nanomaterials,
such as the Silver Nano platform for using silver nanoparticles as an antibacterial
agent, nanoparticle-based transparent sunscreens, and carbon nanotubes for stain-
resistant textiles.[8][9]

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 10−9, of a meter. By comparison, typical

carbon-carbon bond lengths, or the spacing between these atoms in a molecule, are in
the range 0.12–0.15 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.[10] These new phenomena make
nanotechnology distinct from devices which are merely miniaturised versions of an
equivalent macroscopic device; such devices are on a larger scale and come under the
description of microtechnology.[11]

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.[12] 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.[12]

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 atomic-level
control.[13]

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.

Larger to smaller: a materials perspective

Image of reconstruction on a clean Gold(100) surface, as visualized using scanning
tunneling microscopy. The positions of the individual atoms composing the surface
are visible.
Main article: Nanomaterials

A number of physical phenomena become pronounced as the size of the system

decreases. These include statistical mechanical effects, as well as quantum mechanical
effects, for example the “quantum size effect” where the electronic properties of
solids are altered with great reductions in particle size. This effect does not come into
play by going from macro to micro dimensions. However, quantum effects become
dominant when the nanometer size range is reached, typically at distances of 100
nanometers or less, the so called quantum realm. Additionally, a number of physical
(mechanical, electrical, optical, etc.) properties change when compared to
macroscopic systems. One example is the increase in surface area to volume ratio
altering mechanical, thermal and catalytic properties of materials. Diffusion and
reactions at nanoscale, nanostructures materials and nanodevices with fast ion
transport are generally referred to nanoionics. Mechanical properties of nanosystems
are of interest in the nanomechanics research. The catalytic activity of nanomaterials
also opens potential risks in their interaction with biomaterials.

Materials reduced to the nanoscale can show different properties compared to what
they exhibit on a macroscale, enabling unique applications. For instance, opaque
substances become transparent (copper); stable materials turn combustible
(aluminum); insoluble materials become soluble (gold). A material such as gold,
which is chemically inert at normal scales, can serve as a potent chemical catalyst at
nanoscales. Much of the fascination with nanotechnology stems from these quantum
and surface phenomena that matter exhibits at the nanoscale.[14]

Simple to complex: a molecular perspective

Main article: Molecular self-assembly

Modern synthetic chemistry has reached the point where it is possible to prepare small
molecules to almost any structure. These methods are used today to manufacture a
wide variety of useful chemicals such as pharmaceuticals or commercial polymers.
This ability raises the question of extending this kind of control to the next-larger
level, seeking methods to assemble these single molecules into supramolecular
assemblies consisting of many molecules arranged in a well defined manner.

These approaches utilize the concepts of molecular self-assembly and/or

supramolecular chemistry to automatically arrange themselves into some useful
conformation through a bottom-up approach. The concept of molecular recognition is
especially important: molecules can be designed so that a specific configuration or
arrangement is favored due to non-covalent intermolecular forces. The Watson–Crick
basepairing rules are a direct result of this, as is the specificity of an enzyme being
targeted to a single substrate, or the specific folding of the protein itself. Thus, two or
more components can be designed to be complementary and mutually attractive so
that they make a more complex and useful whole.
Such bottom-up approaches should be capable of producing devices in parallel and be
much cheaper than top-down methods, but could potentially be overwhelmed as the
size and complexity of the desired assembly increases. Most useful structures require
complex and thermodynamically unlikely arrangements of atoms. Nevertheless, there
are many examples of self-assembly based on molecular recognition in biology, most
notably Watson–Crick basepairing and enzyme-substrate interactions. The challenge
for nanotechnology is whether these principles can be used to engineer new constructs
in addition to natural ones.

Molecular nanotechnology: a long-term view

Main article: Molecular nanotechnology

Molecular nanotechnology, sometimes called molecular manufacturing, describes

engineered nanosystems (nanoscale machines) operating on the molecular scale.
Molecular nanotechnology is especially associated with the molecular assembler, a
machine that can produce a desired structure or device atom-by-atom using the
principles of mechanosynthesis. Manufacturing in the context of productive
nanosystems is not related to, and should be clearly distinguished from, the
conventional technologies used to manufacture nanomaterials such as carbon
nanotubes and nanoparticles.

When the term "nanotechnology" was independently coined and popularized by Eric
Drexler (who at the time was unaware of an earlier usage by Norio Taniguchi) it
referred to a future manufacturing technology based on molecular machine systems.
The premise was that molecular scale biological analogies of traditional machine
components demonstrated molecular machines were possible: by the countless
examples found in biology, it is known that sophisticated, stochastically optimised
biological machines can be produced.

It is hoped that developments in nanotechnology will make possible their construction

by some other means, perhaps using biomimetic principles. However, Drexler and
other researchers[15] have proposed that advanced nanotechnology, although perhaps
initially implemented by biomimetic means, ultimately could be based on mechanical
engineering principles, namely, a manufacturing technology based on the mechanical
functionality of these components (such as gears, bearings, motors, and structural
members) that would enable programmable, positional assembly to atomic
specification.[16] The physics and engineering performance of exemplar designs were
analyzed in Drexler's book Nanosystems.

In general it is very difficult to assemble devices on the atomic scale, as all one has to
position atoms on other atoms of comparable size and stickiness. Another view, put
forth by Carlo Montemagno,[17] is that future nanosystems will be hybrids of silicon
technology and biological molecular machines. Yet another view, put forward by the
late Richard Smalley, is that mechanosynthesis is impossible due to the difficulties in
mechanically manipulating individual molecules.

This led to an exchange of letters in the ACS publication Chemical & Engineering
News in 2003.[18] Though biology clearly demonstrates that molecular machine
systems are possible, non-biological molecular machines are today only in their
infancy. Leaders in research on non-biological molecular machines are Dr. Alex Zettl
and his colleagues at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratories and UC Berkeley. They have
constructed at least three distinct molecular devices whose motion is controlled from
the desktop with changing voltage: a nanotube nanomotor, a molecular actuator,[19]
and a nanoelectromechanical relaxation oscillator.[20] See nanotube nanomotor for
more examples.

An experiment indicating that positional molecular assembly is possible was

performed by Ho and Lee at Cornell University in 1999. They used a scanning
tunneling microscope to move an individual carbon monoxide molecule (CO) to an
individual iron atom (Fe) sitting on a flat silver crystal, and chemically bound the CO
to the Fe by applying a voltage.

Current research

Graphical representation of a rotaxane, useful as a molecular switch.

This DNA tetrahedron[21] 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.
This device transfers energy from nano-thin layers of quantum wells to nanocrystals
above them, causing the nanocrystals to emit visible light.[22]

Nanomaterials

The nanomaterials field includes subfields which develop or study materials having
unique properties arising from their nanoscale dimensions.[23]

 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.

Bottom-up approaches

These seek to arrange smaller components into more complex assemblies.

 DNA nanotechnology utilizes the specificity of Watson–Crick basepairing to

construct well-defined structures out of DNA and other nucleic acids.
 Approaches from the field of "classical" chemical synthesis (inorganic and
organic synthesis) also aim at designing molecules with well-defined shape (e.g.
bis-peptides[24]).
 More generally, molecular self-assembly seeks to use concepts of
supramolecular chemistry, and molecular recognition in particular, to cause
single-molecule components to automatically arrange themselves into some useful
conformation.
 Atomic force microscope tips can be used as a nanoscale "write head" to
deposit a chemical upon a surface in a desired pattern in a process called dip pen
nanolithography. This technique fits into the larger subfield of nanolithography.

Top-down approaches

These seek to create smaller devices by using larger ones to direct their assembly.

 Many technologies that descended from conventional solid-state silicon

methods for fabricating microprocessors are now capable of creating features
smaller than 100 nm, falling under the definition of nanotechnology. Giant
magnetoresistance-based hard drives already on the market fit this description,[25]
as do atomic layer deposition (ALD) techniques. Peter Grünberg and Albert Fert
received the Nobel Prize in Physics in 2007 for their discovery of Giant
magnetoresistance and contributions to the field of spintronics.[26]
 Solid-state techniques can also be used to create devices known as
nanoelectromechanical systems or NEMS, which are related to
microelectromechanical systems or MEMS.
 Focused ion beams can directly remove material, or even deposit material
when suitable pre-cursor gasses are applied at the same time. For example, this
technique is used routinely to create sub-100 nm sections of material for analysis
in Transmission electron microscopy.
 Atomic force microscope tips can be used as a nanoscale "write head" to
deposit a resist, which is then followed by an etching process to remove material
in a top-down method.

Functional approaches

These seek to develop components of a desired functionality without regard to how

they might be assembled.

 Molecular scale electronics seeks to develop molecules with useful electronic

properties. These could then be used as single-molecule components in a
nanoelectronic device.[27] For an example see rotaxane.
 Synthetic chemical methods can also be used to create synthetic molecular
motors, such as in a so-called nanocar.

Biomimetic approaches

 Bionics or biomimicry seeks to apply biological methods and systems found in

nature, to the study and design of engineering systems and modern technology.
Biomineralization is one example of the systems studied.

 Bionanotechnology is the use of biomolecules for applications in

nanotechnology, including use of viruses.[28] Nanocellulose is a potential bulk-
scale application.
Speculative

These subfields seek to anticipate what inventions nanotechnology might yield, or

attempt to propose an agenda along which inquiry might progress. These often take a
big-picture view of nanotechnology, with more emphasis on its societal implications
than the details of how such inventions could actually be created.

 Molecular nanotechnology is a proposed approach which involves

manipulating single molecules in finely controlled, deterministic ways. This is
more theoretical than the other subfields and is beyond current capabilities.
 Nanorobotics centers on self-sufficient machines of some functionality
operating at the nanoscale. There are hopes for applying nanorobots in medicine,
[29][30][31]
but it may not be easy to do such a thing because of several drawbacks of
such devices.[32] Nevertheless, progress on innovative materials and
methodologies has been demonstrated with some patents granted about new
nanomanufacturing devices for future commercial applications, which also
progressively helps in the development towards nanorobots with the use of
embedded nanobioelectronics concepts.[33][34]
 Productive nanosystems are "systems of nanosystems" which will be complex
nanosystems that produce atomically precise parts for other nanosystems, not
necessarily using novel nanoscale-emergent properties, but well-understood
fundamentals of manufacturing. Because of the discrete (i.e. atomic) nature of
matter and the possibility of exponential growth, this stage is seen as the basis of
another industrial revolution. Mihail Roco, one of the architects of the USA's
National Nanotechnology Initiative, has proposed four states of nanotechnology
that seem to parallel the technical progress of the Industrial Revolution,
progressing from passive nanostructures to active nanodevices to complex
nanomachines and ultimately to productive nanosystems.[35]
 Programmable matter seeks to design materials whose properties can be
easily, reversibly and externally controlled though a fusion of information science
and materials science.
 Due to the popularity and media exposure of the term nanotechnology, the
words picotechnology and femtotechnology have been coined in analogy to it,
although these are only used rarely and informally.

Tools and techniques

Typical AFM setup. A microfabricated cantilever with a sharp tip is deflected by
features on a sample surface, much like in a phonograph but on a much smaller scale.
A laser beam reflects off the backside of the cantilever into a set of photodetectors,
allowing the deflection to be measured and assembled into an image of the surface.

There are several important modern developments. The atomic force microscope
(AFM) and the Scanning Tunneling Microscope (STM) are two early versions of
scanning probes that launched nanotechnology. There are other types of scanning
probe microscopy, all flowing from the ideas of the scanning confocal microscope
developed by Marvin Minsky in 1961 and the scanning acoustic microscope (SAM)
developed by Calvin Quate and coworkers in the 1970s, that made it possible to see
structures at the nanoscale.

The tip of a scanning probe can also be used to manipulate nanostructures (a process
called positional assembly). Feature-oriented scanning methodology suggested by
Rostislav Lapshin appears to be a promising way to implement these
nanomanipulations in automatic mode.[36][37] However, this is still a slow process
because of low scanning velocity of the microscope.

Various techniques of nanolithography such as optical lithography, X-ray lithography

dip pen nanolithography, electron beam lithography or nanoimprint lithography were
also developed. Lithography is a top-down fabrication technique where a bulk
material is reduced in size to nanoscale pattern.

Another group of nanotechnological techniques include those used for fabrication of

nanotubes and nanowires, those used in semiconductor fabrication such as deep
ultraviolet lithography, electron beam lithography, focused ion beam machining,
nanoimprint lithography, atomic layer deposition, and molecular vapor deposition,
and further including molecular self-assembly techniques such as those employing di-
block copolymers. However, all of these techniques preceded the nanotech era, and
are extensions in the development of scientific advancements rather than techniques
which were devised with the sole purpose of creating nanotechnology and which were
results of nanotechnology research.

The top-down approach anticipates nanodevices that must be built piece by piece in
stages, much as manufactured items are made. Scanning probe microscopy is an
important technique both for characterization and synthesis of nanomaterials. Atomic
force microscopes and scanning tunneling microscopes can be used to look at surfaces
and to move atoms around. By designing different tips for these microscopes, they
can be used for carving out structures on surfaces and to help guide self-assembling
structures. By using, for example, feature-oriented scanning approach, atoms or
molecules can be moved around on a surface with scanning probe microscopy
techniques.[36][37] At present, it is expensive and time-consuming for mass production
but very suitable for laboratory experimentation.

In contrast, bottom-up techniques build or grow larger structures atom by atom or

molecule by molecule. These techniques include chemical synthesis, self-assembly
and positional assembly. Dual polarisation interferometry is one tool suitable for
characterisation of self assembled thin films. Another variation of the bottom-up
approach is molecular beam epitaxy or MBE. Researchers at Bell Telephone
Laboratories like John R. Arthur. Alfred Y. Cho, and Art C. Gossard developed and
implemented MBE as a research tool in the late 1960s and 1970s. Samples made by
MBE were key to the discovery of the fractional quantum Hall effect for which the
1998 Nobel Prize in Physics was awarded. MBE allows scientists to lay down
atomically precise layers of atoms and, in the process, build up complex structures.
Important for research on semiconductors, MBE is also widely used to make samples
and devices for the newly emerging field of spintronics.

However, new therapeutic products, based on responsive nanomaterials, such as the

ultradeformable, stress-sensitive Transfersome vesicles, are under development and
already approved for human use in some countries.[citation needed]

Applications

One of the major applications of nanotechnology is in the area of nanoelectronics with

MOSFET's being made of small nanowires ~10 nm in length. Here is a simulation of
such a nanowire.
Main article: List of nanotechnology applications

As of August 21, 2008, the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies estimates that over
800 manufacturer-identified nanotech products are publicly available, with new ones
hitting the market at a pace of 3–4 per week.[9] The project lists all of the products in a
publicly accessible online database. Most applications are limited to the use of "first
generation" passive nanomaterials which includes titanium dioxide in sunscreen,
cosmetics, surface coatings,[38] and some food products; Carbon allotropes used to
produce gecko tape; silver in food packaging, clothing, disinfectants and household
appliances; zinc oxide in sunscreens and cosmetics, surface coatings, paints and
outdoor furniture varnishes; and cerium oxide as a fuel catalyst.[8]

Further applications allow tennis balls to last longer, golf balls to fly straighter, and
even bowling balls to become more durable and have a harder surface. Trousers and
socks have been infused with nanotechnology so that they will last longer and keep
people cool in the summer. Bandages are being infused with silver nanoparticles to
heal cuts faster.[39] Cars are being manufactured with nanomaterials so they may need
fewer metals and less fuel to operate in the future.[40] Video game consoles and
personal computers may become cheaper, faster, and contain more memory thanks to
nanotechnology.[41] Nanotechnology may have the ability to make existing medical
applications cheaper and easier to use in places like the general practitioner's office
and at home.[42]

The National Science Foundation (a major distributor for nanotechnology research in

the United States) funded researcher David Berube to study the field of
nanotechnology. His findings are published in the monograph Nano-Hype: The Truth
Behind the Nanotechnology Buzz. This study concludes that much of what is sold as
“nanotechnology” is in fact a recasting of straightforward materials science, which is
leading to a “nanotech industry built solely on selling nanotubes, nanowires, and the
like” which will “end up with a few suppliers selling low margin products in huge
volumes." Further applications which require actual manipulation or arrangement of
nanoscale components await further research. Though technologies branded with the
term 'nano' are sometimes little related to and fall far short of the most ambitious and
transformative technological goals of the sort in molecular manufacturing proposals,
the term still connotes such ideas. According to Berube, there may be a danger that a
"nano bubble" will form, or is forming already, from the use of the term by scientists
and entrepreneurs to garner funding, regardless of interest in the transformative
possibilities of more ambitious and far-sighted work.[43]

Implications
Main article: Implications of nanotechnology

The Center for Responsible Nanotechnology warns of the broad societal implications
of untraceable weapons of mass destruction, networked cameras for use by the
government, and weapons developments fast enough to destabilize arms races.[44]

Another area of concern is the effect that industrial-scale manufacturing and use of
nanomaterials would have on human health and the environment, as suggested by
nanotoxicology research. For these reasons, groups such as the Center for Responsible
Nanotechnology advocate that nanotechnology be regulated by governments. Others
counter that overregulation would stifle scientific research and the development of
beneficial innovations.

Some nanoparticle products may have unintended consequences. Researchers have

discovered that bacteriostatic silver nanoparticles used in socks to reduce foot odor
are being released in the wash.[45] These particles are then flushed into the waste water
stream and may destroy bacteria which are critical components of natural ecosystems,
farms, and waste treatment processes.[46]

Public deliberations on risk perception in the US and UK carried out by the Center for
Nanotechnology in Society found that participants were more positive about
nanotechnologies for energy applications than for health applications, with health
applications raising moral and ethical dilemmas such as cost and availability.[47]

Experts, including director of the Woodrow Wilson Center's Project on Emerging

Nanotechnologies David Rejeski, have testified[48] that successful commercialization
depends on adequate oversight, risk research strategy, and public engagement.
Berkeley, California is currently the only city in the United States to regulate
nanotechnology;[49] Cambridge, Massachusetts in 2008 considered enacting a similar
law,[50] but ultimately rejected it.[51] Relevant for both research on and application of
nanotechnologies, the insurability of nanotechnology is contested.[52] Without state
regulation of nanotechnology, the availability of private insurance for potential
damages is seen as necessary to ensure that burdens are not socialised implicitly.

Health and environmental concerns

Main articles: Health implications of nanotechnology and Environmental implications

of nanotechnology

Researchers have found that when rats breathed in nanoparticles, the particles settled
in the brain and lungs, which led to significant increases in biomarkers for
inflammation and stress response[53] and that nanoparticles induce skin aging through
oxidative stress in hairless mice.[54][55]

A two-year study at UCLA's School of Public Health found lab mice consuming
nano-titanium dioxide showed DNA and chromosome damage to a degree "linked to
all the big killers of man, namely cancer, heart disease, neurological disease and
aging".[56]

A major study published more recently in Nature Nanotechnology suggests some

forms of carbon nanotubes – a poster child for the “nanotechnology revolution” –
could be as harmful as asbestos if inhaled in sufficient quantities. Anthony Seaton of
the Institute of Occupational Medicine in Edinburgh, Scotland, who contributed to the
article on carbon nanotubes said "We know that some of them probably have the
potential to cause mesothelioma. So those sorts of materials need to be handled very
carefully."[57] In the absence of specific regulation forthcoming from governments,
Paull and Lyons (2008) have called for an exclusion of engineered nanoparticles in
food.[58] A newspaper article reports that workers in a paint factory developed serious
lung disease and nanoparticles were found in their lungs.[59]

Regulation
Main article: Regulation of nanotechnology

Calls for tighter regulation of nanotechnology have occurred alongside a growing

debate related to the human health and safety risks of nanotechnology.[60] There is
significant debate about who is responsible for the regulation of nanotechnology.
Some regulatory agencies currently cover some nanotechnology products and
processes (to varying degrees) – by “bolting on” nanotechnology to existing
regulations – there are clear gaps in these regimes.[61] Davies (2008) has proposed a
regulatory road map describing steps to deal with these shortcomings.[62]

Stakeholders concerned by the lack of a regulatory framework to assess and control

risks associated with the release of nanoparticles and nanotubes have drawn parallels
with bovine spongiform encephalopathy ("mad cow" disease), thalidomide,
genetically modified food,[63] nuclear energy, reproductive technologies,
biotechnology, and asbestosis. Dr. Andrew Maynard, chief science advisor to the
Woodrow Wilson Center’s Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, concludes that
there is insufficient funding for human health and safety research, and as a result there
is currently limited understanding of the human health and safety risks associated with
nanotechnology.[64] As a result, some academics have called for stricter application of
the precautionary principle, with delayed marketing approval, enhanced labelling and
additional safety data development requirements in relation to certain forms of
nanotechnology.[65]

The Royal Society report[6] identified a risk of nanoparticles or nanotubes being

released during disposal, destruction and recycling, and recommended that
“manufacturers of products that fall under extended producer responsibility regimes
such as end-of-life regulations publish procedures outlining how these materials will
be managed to minimize possible human and environmental exposure” (p. xiii).
Reflecting the challenges for ensuring responsible life cycle regulation, the Institute
for Food and Agricultural Standards has proposed that standards for nanotechnology
research and development should be integrated across consumer, worker and
environmental standards. They also propose that NGOs and other citizen groups play
a meaningful role in the development of these standards.

The Center for Nanotechnology in Society has found that people respond differently
to nanotechnologies based upon application - with participants in public deliberations
more positive about nanotechnologies for energy than health applications - suggesting
that any public calls for nano regulations may differ by technology sector.[47]

See also
Main article: Outline of nanotechnology
 Bionanoscience
 Energy applications of nanotechnology
 List of emerging technologies
 List of software for nanostructures modeling
 Materiomics
 Molecular design software
 Molecular mechanics
 Nanoengineering
 Nanobiotechnology
 Nanofluidics
 Nanohub
 Nanometrology
 Nanoscale networks
 Nanotechnology education
 Nanotechnology in water treatment
 Nanothermite
 Nanoweapons
 Top-down and bottom-up
 Translational research
 Wet nanotechnology

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Further reading
 "Basic Concepts of Nanotechnology" History of Nano-Technology, News,
Materials, Potential Risks and Important People.
 "About Nanotechnology - An Introduction to Nanotech from The Project on
Emerging Nanotechnologies". Nanotechproject.org.
http://www.nanotechproject.org/topics/nano101/. Retrieved 2009-11-24.
 "Nanotechnology Introduction Pages". Nanotech-now.com.
http://www.nanotech-now.com/nano_intro.htm. Retrieved 2009-11-24.
 Medicalnanotec.com, Introduction to applications of Nanotechnology in
Medicine.
 Maynard, Andrew, "The Twinkie Guide to Nanotechnology • News Archive •
Nanotechnology Project". Nanotechproject.org. 2007-10-22.
http://www.nanotechproject.org/news/archive/the_twinkie_guide_to_nanotechnol
ogy/. Retrieved 2009-11-24. Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
2007. - "..a friendly, funny, 25-minute travel guide to the technology"
 "Nanotechnology Basics: For Students and Other Learners". Center for
Responsible Nanotechnology - World Care. 11 November 2008.
 Fritz Allhoff and Patrick Lin (eds.), Nanotechnology & Society: Current and
Emerging Ethical Issues (Dordrecht: Springer, 2008).
 Fritz Allhoff, Patrick Lin, James Moor, and John Weckert (eds.) "Nanoethics:
The Ethical and Societal Implications of Nanotechnology". Hoboken: John Wiley
& Sons. 2007. http://www.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-
0470084170.html. "Wiley". http://www.nanoethics.org/wiley.html.
 J. Clarence Davies, EPA and Nanotechnology: Oversight for the 21st Century,
Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, PEN 9, May 2007.
 Carl Marziali, "Little Big Science," USC Trojan Family Magazine, Winter
2007.
 William Sims Bainbridge: Nanoconvergence: The Unity of Nanoscience,
Biotechnology, Information Technology and Cognitive Science, June 27, 2007,
Prentice Hall, ISBN 0-13-244643-X
 Lynn E. Foster: Nanotechnology: Science, Innovation, and Opportunity,
December 21, 2005, Prentice Hall, ISBN 0-13-192756-6
 Impact of Nanotechnology on Biomedical Sciences: Review of Current
Concepts on Convergence of Nanotechnology With Biology by Herbert Ernest and
Rahul Shetty, from AZojono, May 2005.
 Hunt, G & Mehta, M (eds)(2008) Nanotechnology: Risk, Ethics & Law,
Earthscan, London.
 Andrew Schneider, The Nanotech Gamble, Growing Health Risks from
Nanomaterials in Food and Medicine, First in a Three-Part Series, AOL News
Special Report, March 24, 2010.
 Hari Singh Nalwa (2004), Encyclopedia of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology
(10-Volume Set), American Scientific Publishers. ISBN 1-58883-001-2
 Michael Rieth and Wolfram Schommers (2006), Handbook of Theoretical and
Computational Nanotechnology (10-Volume Set), American Scientific Publishers.
ISBN 1-58883-042-X
 Akhlesh Lakhtakia (ed) (2004). The Handbook of Nanotechnology.
Nanometer Structures: Theory, Modeling, and Simulation. SPIE Press,
Bellingham, WA, USA. ISBN 0-8194-5186-X.
 Fei Wang & Akhlesh Lakhtakia (eds) (2006). Selected Papers on
Nanotechnology—Theory & Modeling (Milestone Volume 182). SPIE Press,
Bellingham, WA, USA. ISBN 0-8194-6354-X.
 Jumana Boussey, Georges Kamarinos, Laurent Montès (editors) (2003),
Towards Nanotechnology, "Nano et Micro Technologies", Hermes Sciences
Publ., Paris, ISBN 2-7462-0858-X.
 The Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition (April, 2008), Regulating Emerging
Technologies in Silicon Valley and Beyond
 Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News (January, 2008), Getting a
Handle on Nanobiotech Products Regulators and Companies Are Laying the
Groundwork for a Predicted Bright Future
 Suh WH, Suslick KS, Stucky GD, Suh YH (2009). "Nanotechnology,
nanotoxicology, and neuroscience". Progress in Neurobiology 87 (3): 133–70.
doi:10.1016/j.pneurobio.2008.09.009. PMC 2728462. PMID 18926873.
 RJ Aitken, SM Hankin, B Ross, CL Tran, V Stone, TF Fernandes, K
Donaldson, R Duffin, Q Chaudhry, TA Wilkins, SA Wilkins, LS Levy, SA
Rocks, A Maynard, EMERGNANO Report, Institute of Occupational Medicine,
Report TM/09/1 March 2009.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Nanotechnology

Wikibooks has a book on the topic of

Nanotechnology
 Nanotechnology at the Open Directory Project

At Wikiversity you can learn more and teach others about Nanotechnology
at:
The Department of Nanotechnology
 What is Nanotechnology? (A Vega/BBC/OU Video Discussion).
 Course on Introduction to Nanotechnology
 Nanex Project
 SAFENANO A nanotechnology initiative of the Institute of Occupational
Medicine
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