Welcome to Nano Water Can

[ITB] Nanotechnology
Mikrajuddin Abdullah
Thu, 06 Jul 2000 06:31:04 -0700

Perkembangan teknologi yang berbasis microscaled,
seperti mikroelektronika,telah menghasilkan
kemajuan peradaban seperti yang kita rasakan sekarang.
Namun, mayoritas orang berpendapat bahwa teknologi
mikroelektronika sudah sampai pada tingkat saturasi.
Tidak ada lagi kemajuan-kemajuan berarti yang
akan dicapai. Peluang mereduksi ukuran komponen-komponen
mikroelektronika untuk meningkatkan densitas komponen
dalam satu chip makin pupus. Dalam menikmati sisa-sisa
kejayaan teknologi mikro, program besar-besaran tengah
dikembangkan untuk mewujudkan teknologi yang berukuran
seribu kali lebih mini. "Nanotechnology" saat ini sedang
menggema di seluruh dunia.

Dalam pidato di Caltech bulan Januari lalu, Presiden Clinton
mencanangkan program yang bernama National Nanotechnology
Initiative (NNI) mulai tahun 2000 ini untuk merealisakian
teknologi yang berbasis nano paling cepat tahun 2020. Namanya,
mengingatkan kita pada program "gila" SDI (Space? Defensive Initiative)
yang diluncurkan Presiden Reagen selama perang dingin dalam usaha
membangun senjata anti rudal. Negara-negara maju lain seperti Jepang
dan negara-negara Eropa juga sudah meninggalkan garis start dalam
mengembangkan program yang sama. Yang cukup unik, Nanotechnology
adalah bidang yang paling interdisipliner karena orang fisika,
kimia, bilogi, teknik bekerja (dan kelihatannya harus bekerja)
bersama-sama. Karena ukuran yang dipakai hanya sekitar sepuluhan kali
ukuran atom, maka teori kuantum menjadi bidang yang wajib dipahami
oleh orang yang mau bekerja di bidang ini. Ini berbeda cukup signifikan
ketika kita bekerja di teknologi mikroelektronika, di mana teori-teori
fisika klasik masih cukup dominan dipakai.

Bagi kita mungkin akan kesulitan untuk berkontribusi, karena alat-alat
yang dipakai untuk riset tergolong alat-alat yang super mahal untuk ukuran kita.
Dalam teknologi mikroelektronika yang mulai berkembang sejak PD II yang
kerumitannya "lebih rendah" dari nanotechnology kita sudah kewalahan untuk
merealisasikannya. Bagaimana dengan nanotechnology?

Berikut ini ada satu review singkat tentang Nanotechnology
yang dimuat di majalah Nature, 15 Juni 2000.

Mikra

Nanotechnology, fast becoming a three-trillion-dollar industry, is about to revolutionize our world. Unfortunately, hardly anyone is stopping to ask whether it's safe.

For an industry that trades in the very, very small, projections about the potential scope of nanotechnology are gigantic. Estimates are that the industry will grow at a staggering pace in its first decade, reaching close to $3 trillion globally by 2014. The National Nanotechnology Initiative, created by President Bill Clinton in 2000, has called it "the next industrial revolution." Enthusiasts say that nanotechnology may someday enable scientists to build objects from the atom up, leading to entirely new replacement parts for failing bodies and minds. It may enable engineers to make things that never existed before, creating nanosize "carpenters" that can be programmed to construct anything, atom by atom -- including themselves. Or it may make things disappear, with nanowires that get draped around an object in a way that makes the whole package invisible to the naked eye.

As difficult as it is to comprehend how huge is the promise of nanotechnology, it's just as hard to wrap your head around just how tiny "nano" is. A nanometer is defined as one billionth of a meter, but what does that mean? The analogies are mind-boggling but not necessarily enlightening. Hearing how small things are when you're working at the nano level doesn't help you visualize anything, exactly; all it does is make you sit back and say, "Wow." If you think of a meter as the earth, goes one analogy, then a nanometer would be a marble. If you think of a meter as the distance from the earth to the sun, then a nanometer would be the length of a football field. A nanometer is one hundred-thousandth the width of a human hair. Or it is, in a particularly kinetic description, the length that a man's beard will grow in the time it takes him to lift a razor to his face.

"Things get complex down there, in terms of the physics and the chemistry," says Andrew Maynard, chief science adviser for the Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies, established in 2005 at the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars in Washington, D.C., in partnership with the Pew Charitable Trust. "When you have small blocks of stuff, they behave differently than when you have large blocks of stuff."

At the nano level, some compounds shift from inert to active, from electrical insulators to conductors, from fragile to tough. They can become stronger, lighter, more resilient. These transformed properties are what account for the infinite potential applications of nanoparticles, defined as anything less than about 100 nanometers in diameter.

The field is a textbook example of exponential growth. According to Lux Research, an emerging-technologies research and advisory firm based in New York that has tracked the industry since 2001, the total value of all products worldwide that incorporated nanotechnology was $13 billion in 2004. That figure grew to $32 billion in 2005 and to $50 billion in 2006, and Lux Research projects it will reach $2.6 trillion by 2014.

Nanotechnology holds great potential for improving our lives. It might benefit the environment, for instance, by reducing our dependence on oil through the creation of a new power grid based on carbon nanotubes -- which can carry up to 1,000 times as much electricity as copper wiring without throwing off heat -- and solar energy farms that use thin, cheap, flexible nano-engineered solar panels.

Nanostructures offer better options for rechargeable batteries, for instance, including the ones to be used in the next generation of hybrid cars. One such battery, made with nanostructured lithium-iron- phosphate electrodes, is smaller and lighter, less environmentally toxic, and can hold more energy, take a charge more quickly, and maintain a charge longer than conventional lithium batteries, according to Michael Holman, a senior analyst with Lux Research. "It's not the compound itself that's nanoscale, but the surface of the material," Holman says. The surface of the battery electrode contains nanosize bumps and ridges, "which make the surface area much higher, allowing the electrons to flow in and out of it more quickly."

In the medical field, nanotechnology is expected to lead to dozens of innovations: new methods of cancer treatment that deliver chemotherapy directly to the tumor, earlier cancer detection using nanowires that can spot derangements in just a few protein cells, new methods of blood vessel grafting during heart surgery using nanoglue formed from nanospheres of silica coated in gold.

In cancer treatment, one application involves gold nanoshells: gold-coated glass spheres no more than 100 nanometers in diameter. These nanoshells enter tumors by slipping through tiny gaps in blood vessels that feed the malignancy. Once enough nanoshells accumulate in the tumor, scientists shine a near-infrared laser through the skin, heating up the gold particles and burning away the cancer. This technique, developed at the University of Texas Health Science Center, has worked in animal experiments and is about to be used in humans.

However, the real impact of nanotechnology, at least in the short term, will not be at the dramatic level of cancer cures or a new energy grid. For now, the technology will have to prove itself in the more mundane arena of commerce: washing machines that fight germs, antiseptic computer keyboards and kitchen utensils, windshields that repel the rain, sunscreens that rub on easily and block the full spectrum of ultraviolet rays. Nanoparticles are being put into stain-resistant clothing (Haggar NanoTex pants with NANO-PEL), super light tennis rackets (Wilson nCode), antiwrinkle face creams (Lancôme Rénergie Microlift), sunscreens (Blue Lizard), computer peripherals (IOGEAR), and a wall paint made by an Australian company, Nanovations, that says the paint can "achieve better energy ratings for buildings, better indoor air quality and fewer allergy-related illnesses."

But before we hurtle off toward a nano-utopia, we need to step back and ask ourselves whether this is a direction in which we really want to go.

When an industry grows this quickly, there may be neither the time nor the inclination to ask some tough questions about possible risks. First of all, there are the health and environmental hazards. Would nanotechnology bring unacceptable risks to workers making these materials or consumers who use the final products? Would it affect air or water quality near where the nanomaterials are dispersed? Very little is known about nanotoxicology, which might be very different from the toxicology of the same materials at normal scale (see "Smaller Is Weirder").

Then there are the social, even existential, consequences. If the hype about nanotechnology contains even a smattering of truth, the technique could shake up our most basic assumptions about our place in the universe, turning us from its residents to the architects of its most fundamental elements. Might that act of hubris somehow subvert us as a species?

Continued...

What is Nanotechnology?

Nanotechnology originates from the Greek word meaning “dwarf”. A nanometre is one billionth (10 ^-9) of a metre, which is tiny, only the length of ten hydrogen atoms, or about one hundred thousandth of the width of a hair! Although scientists have manipulated matter at the nanoscale for centuries, calling it physics or chemistry, it was not until a new generation of microscopes were invented in the nineteen eighties in IBM, Switzerland that the world of atoms and molecules could be visualized and managed.

In simple terms, nanotechnology can be defined as ‘engineering at a very small scale’, and this term can be applied to many areas of research and development – from medicine to manufacturing to computing, and even to textiles and cosmetics. It can be difficult to imagine exactly how this greater understanding of the world of atoms and molecules has and will affect the everyday objects we see around us, but some of the areas where nanotechnologies are set to make a difference are described below.

From Micro to Nano

Nanotechnology, in one sense, is the natural continuation of the miniaturization revolution that we have witnessed over the last decade, where millionth of a metre (10 ^-6m) tolerances (microengineering) became commonplace, for example, in the automotive and aerospace industries enabling the construction of higher quality and safer vehicles and planes. It was the computer industry that kept on pushing the limits of miniaturization, and many electronic devices we see today have nano features that owe their origins to the computer industry – such as cameras, CD and DVD players, car airbag pressure sensors and inkjet printers.

Because of the opportunities nanotechnology offers in creating new features and functions, it is already providing the solutions to many long-standing medical, social and environmental problems. Because of its potential, nanotechnology is of global interest. It is attracting more public funding than any other area of technology, estimated at 3.8 billion euros worldwide in 2005. It is also the one area of research that is truly multidisciplinary. The contribution of nanotechnology to new products and processes cannot be made in isolation and requires a team effort, which may include life scientists – biologists and biochemists - working with physicists, chemists and information technology experts. Consider the development of a new cochlear implant, and what that might require - at least a physiologist, an electronic engineer, a mechanical engineer and a biomaterials expert. This kind of teamwork is essential, not only for a cochlear implant, but for any new, nano-based product whether it is a scratch-resistant lens or a new soap powder.

Nano scientists are now enthusiastically examining how the living world ‘works’ in order to find solutions to problems in the 'non-living' world. The way marine organisms build strength into their shells has lessons in how to engineer new lightweight, tough materials for cars; the way a leaf photosynthesizes can lead to techniques for efficiently generating renewable energy; even how a nettle delivers its sting can suggest better vaccination techniques. These ideas are all leading to what is termed ‘disruptive’ solutions, when the old ways of making things are completely overtaken and discarded, in much the same way as a DVD has taken over from videotape, or a flat screen display from a cathode ray tube.

Nanotechnology today is growing very rapidly and has infinite applications in almost everything we do. The medicine we take, food we eat, chemicals we use, car we drive and much much more.

mknano offers large variety of nano products in various forms as mentioned below. We offer many nano powders at very affordable prices.

Material Formats:
Atomic & Molecular Clusters, Buckyballs & Fullerenes, Bulk Nanostructured Metals, Magnetic Nanoparticles / Magnetic Nanostructures, Nanobelts, Nanolubricant Powders, Nanocrystals & Nanopowders, NanoFillers / NanoAdditives, Nanoparticles / Nanopowders, Nanoparticale Dispersions, Nanorods, Nanosponge Abrasives, Nano Tubes, Nanowires, Quantum Dots / Nano Dots, Reactive Electro Exploded Nano Powders.

Carbon Nanotubes:
Single wall (SWNT), Double wall (DWNT), Multiwall (MWNT), (alligned/tangled/dispersable), OH, COOH Functionalized SWNT/MWNT, Industrial Grade SWCNTs, MWCNTs, Conducting (Metallic) and Semiconducting SWCNTs, MWCNT Nonwoven Papers, CNT Foam, Special application CNTs.

Quantum Dots:
Cadmium Mercury Telluride (CdHgTe), Cadmium Selenide (CdSe), Cadmium Selenide/Zinc Sulfide (CdSe/ZnS), Cadmium Sulfide (CdS), Cadmium Telluride (CdTe), Cadmium Telluride/Cadmium Sulfide (CdTe/CdS), Lead Selenide (PbSe), Lead Sulfide (PbS)

Nano Dry Lubricant Powders:
Tungsten Disulfide (WS₂), Molybdenum Disulfide (MoS₂), Hex-Boron Nitride (hBN), Graphite,
Specially formulated Nano Lubricant Additive Powders to improve lubricity and save energy.

Elements:
Ag; Al; Au; B; C (diamond); C (Graphite); Co; Cr; Cu; Fe; Mn; Mo Ni; Sn; Si; Ti; TiH2; W; Zn

Compounds:
AlN; B₄C; BN (hexagonal/cubic); B₃N₄ (hex.); CaS; CrB; Cr₃C2; CrN; FeS; GaN (spher.); GaP; HgI₂; InP; LaB₆; Mo₂B; Mo₂C; MoS₂; NbC; NbN; PbS; SiC; Si₃(C_0.5N_0.5)4; Si₃N₄; TaC; TaN; TiB; TiC; TiC_0.8N_0.2; TiC_0.7N_0.3; TiC_0.5N_0.5; TiN; VC; VN; WB; WC; WC/Co; WN; ZnS; ZrB₂; ZrC; ZrN

Single Metal Oxides:
Al₂O₃; Al(OH)₃; B₂O₃; Bi₂O₃; CeO₂; CoO; Co₃O₄; CrO₃; Cr₂O₃; CuO; Dy₂O₃; Er₂O₃; Eu₂O₃; Fe₂O₃; Fe₃O₄; Gd₂O₃; HfO₂; In₂O₃; In(OH)₃; La₂O₃; MgO; Mg(OH)₂; Mn₂O₃; Mn₃O₄; MoO₃; Nd₂O₃; NiO; Ni₂O₃; PbO; Pr₆O₁₁; Sb₂O₃; SiO₂; Sm₂O₃; SnO₂; Tb₄O₇; TiO₂ (anatase/rutile); VO; V₂O₃; V₂O₅; WO₃; Y₂O₃; ZnO; ZrO₂

Multielement Oxides:
BaCO₃; BaFe₁₂O₁₉; BaSO₄; BaTiO₃; CaCO₃; Ca₅(PO₄)F; CoFe₂O₄; CuFe₂O₄; MgAl₂O₄; MgFe₂O₄; Li₄Ti₅O₁₂; NiFe₂O₄; In₂O₃:SnO₂; Li₂CO₃; LiCoO₂; LiMn₂O₄; SrAl₁₂O₁₉; SrAl₁₂O₁₉; SrCO₄; SrFe₁₂O₁₉; SrTiO₃; Y₃Al₅O₁₂ ZnFe₂O₄

Nanoparticle Dispersions:
Nanoparticle dispersions are available in water, 2-Propanol, Toluene, Ethylene Glycol etc.

Element Nanoparticle Dispersions:
Carbon (Nanodiamond), Carbon (Carbon nanotubes), Cobalt, Copper, Gold, Iron, Platinum, Silicon, Silver, Titanium

Oxide Nanoparticle Dispersions:
Aluminum Oxide (Al₂O₃), Iron Oxide (Red, Yellow), Silicon Oxide (SiO₂), Titanium Dioxide (TiO₂) Anatase/Rutile, Zinc Oxide (ZnO)

Rare Earth Oxide (REO) Nanoparticle Dispersions:
CeO₂, Dy₂O₃, Er₂O₃, Gd₂O₃, Ho₂O₃, Sm₂O₃, Y₂O₃, ZrO₂

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Nano Teknologi

What is Nanotechnology?

From Micro to Nano