This blog post explores the potential and impact of nanotechnology in driving innovation across various industrial sectors.
The word “nano” originates from the Greek word “nanos,” meaning dwarf. Initially, it simply meant “small,” but today it is primarily used as a prefix denoting units like nanometers or nanoseconds. This represents an extremely small scale, one billionth of a unit, playing a crucial role especially in science and technology. Therefore, nanotechnology can be defined as the collective term for technologies requiring manipulation or processing at the nanoscale. Given this, nanotechnology is essentially just the science of dealing with incredibly small things. So why do so many scientific journals today feature nanotechnology—and even the term “nano era”—on their covers?
Advances in modern science are accelerating rapidly as manipulation and observation at the nanometer scale become possible. In this blog post, let’s explore nanotechnology in greater detail. Let’s explore how nanotechnology is impacting our lives and what possibilities it will open in the future.
As described earlier, the term nanotechnology is not limited to any specific field of technology. It encompasses all technologies requiring manipulation at the nanometer level across the entire spectrum of science. These technologies can be broadly divided into three categories.
The first involves processing or synthesizing nanoscale materials to create minute machines or materials. In the scientific world, being small offers significant advantages. As electronic components and integrated circuits in the electrical and electronics fields can be manufactured at increasingly smaller sizes, electronic devices have become significantly lighter and more powerful. For example, smartphones we use today have seen dramatic performance improvements thanks to nanotechnology, and battery life is steadily increasing. Nanotechnology also enables the development of innovative medical technologies, such as creating extremely small robots that can navigate inside the human body to monitor and diagnose physical conditions, thereby preventing diseases. Furthermore, research is underway on methods to precisely deliver therapeutics or drugs to specific cells or tissues using nanorobots. Thus, nanotechnology is transforming our lives by being applied not only to medicine but also to various industries like the environment and energy.
Meanwhile, when materials reach the nanometer scale, they sometimes exhibit entirely new properties different from their conventional ones. The second category of nanotechnology involves applying these properties to enhance the performance of equipment or materials. The properties that change at the nanoscale range from optical characteristics to chemical, mechanical, and electrical properties. For example, while ordinary gold appears golden yellow, particles smaller than 20 nanometers exhibit a reddish hue, and even within this range, the color changes depending on the particle size. Furthermore, in semiconductors and metals, electromagnetic properties are maximized at sizes of tens to hundreds of nanometers. Such nano-scale structures exhibiting novel characteristics are frequently observed in nature. Calcium carbonate, which is not inherently very durable, forms a unique nano-structure specifically in abalone shells, granting them a strength that can withstand being run over by a truck without breaking. Similarly, the superhydrophobic structure of lotus leaves, which repels water, is also due to the nano-scale structure on the leaf surface. Biomimetics is the field that develops new materials and technologies by mimicking these nano-structures, and it is also considered one of the important application areas of nanotechnology.
Finally, nanotechnology is also used to observe and analyze natural phenomena in the microscopic realm, typically beyond human perception. Since atoms and molecules—the most fundamental units composing matter—operate at the nanoscale, nanotechnology enables the extraction of extensive information about their composition. The dawn of nanotechnology began with the successful development of the scanning tunneling microscope (STM), which enables the visualization of atomic-level bonding states. Nanoparticles are also used as contrast agents in MRI devices, allowing three-dimensional scanning of the human body’s interior. Thus, nanotechnology aids our understanding of nature across diverse fields. The advancement of nanotechnology does not merely satisfy scientific curiosity; it leads to industrial applications, bringing significant changes to everyday life.
Thus, nanotechnology influences nearly every field representing modern cutting-edge technology, both internally and externally. Nanotechnology (NT) has been selected as one of the 6T next-generation technologies, alongside IT and BT, that will lead the future. In Korea, it is a promising field whose development is being promoted through the enactment of the Nanotechnology Development Promotion Act in 2002. Recently, the development of new materials based on nanotechnology has been particularly active, and this is expected to bring revolutionary changes in various fields such as energy storage, environmental protection, and biopharmaceutical development. With the advancement of nanotechnology, we anticipate further progress in human technology. It is fascinating to observe how nanotechnology will increasingly impact our daily lives and what innovations it will bring.
