NANOTECHNOLOGY

WHAT IS NANOTECHNOLOGY?

In the modern world, the term nanotechnology refers to the science, engineering, and technology
conducted at the nanoscale, within the size range from 1 to 100 nanometers (making new things at
incredibly small scale). It deals with the fabrication and manipulation of matter on an atomic, molecular,
and supramolecular levels, and it involves imaging, measuring, modeling, and designing of structures,
devices, and systems at this length scale. Likewise, nanoscience and nanotechnology are the study and
application of extremely small things with unique properties (by architecting the physical, chemical,
mechanical and optical properties) that can be used across all other fields of science, such as chemistry,
biology, physics, and material science and engineering. Similarly, nanotechnology can be described as the
technology of composite functional systems at the nanoscale of the materials.

WHAT ARE NANOMATERIALS AND WHY THEY ARE IMPORTANT?

Nanomaterials include all nano-sized substances where at least one dimension is less than
approximately 100 nanometers. Nano-sized materials are of great importance because they exhibit
unique properties that are significantly different from their bulk counterparts, which have great potential
impacts in electronics, medicine, and all other fields. According to the National Nanotechnology Initiative
(NNI), the property of nanomaterials is “At the nanoscale, the physical, chemical, and biological properties
of materials differ in fundamental and valuable ways from the properties of individual atoms and
molecules or bulk matter.” Due to their fascinating and unique features in terms of size and properties,
nanoscientists, engineers, and researchers have explored the technology to generate novel nanomaterials
for diverse applications.

HISTORY OF NANOTECHNOLOGY

Even before the nanotechnology field is being popularized in the current modern society, the concept of
nanotechnology was already being used in ancient times. Primeval scientists have already produced
ancient artifacts of which the scientific concept of nanotechnology was applied. One famous example of
ancient nanotechnology-based artifacts is the fabulous decorative effects of the Lycurgus cup (Roman
treasure from about AD400). Also, some exciting illustrations of ancient nanoscience-based applications
are the Damascus steel swords from the Middle East (AD300 and AD1700), and a corrosion-resistant azure
pigment is known as Maya Blue (AD800).

It was in 1959, where the concept of nanotechnology was introduced to the scientific community by Prof.
Richard Feynman in his famous talk entitled “There is plenty room at the bottom” where he describes the
possibility of creating materials by direct atom manipulation. In fact, his talk is considered as the pioneer
of the technological advances of nanoscience and technologies nowadays. However, the term
“nanotechnology,” where the word “nano” stems from the Greek word “nanos” which means dwarf, was
not used until Prof. Norio Taniguchi introduced it in 1974. The idea of “Nano-technological strategy” came
after the book entitled “Vehicles of creation: the arrival of the nanotechnology era” of E. Drexler was
being published in 1986. Since its inception, this field has been continuously growing and branching out
into several sub-areas. Recently, the term nanotechnology has become a common word that has been
used in numerous fields of science. Furthermore, the application of various nanomaterials that were
generated through successive scientific endeavors during the past few decades was exhaustively well
explored, ranging from environmental applications, organic synthesis and catalysis, electronics and
information storage, and bioanalytical and pharmaceutical applications.

HOW SMALL NANOPARTICLE IS?

It is undeniably challenging to visualize the size of a material that is in a nanometer range. As mentioned,
nanomaterials are all substances that are in a nanometer range (from 1 to 100 nm). This scale (nanoscale,
1-100 nm) is the size of some big single molecules, such as the protein enzymes (globular diameter of 3 –
7 nm) in our bodies. By definition, 1 nanometer (abbreviated as nm) is equal to 1 billionth of a meter (10-
9 m), or the length of 10 hydrogen atoms lined up next to each other. The diameter of DNA is
approximately equal to 2 nm, and the virus is approximately 100-150 nm, while the red blood cell is about
6,000 nanometers. Likewise, the diameter of a human hair is typically equal to 60,000 – 120,000
nanometers. To come up with a clear representation with a more familiar scale, just imagine if the size of
a nanoparticle is as big as a football, then this would simply relate into how the sizes of atoms, cells, and
organisms look like; a virus would be as big as a person, a red blood cell would be the size of a rugby field,
a doughnut would be as big as New Zealand, and a Kiwi would be as big as the World.

CHEMICAL AND PHYSICAL CHARACTERISTICS OF NANOMATERIALS

As particles become nano-sized, they exhibit unique chemical, biological, magnetic, electrical, and
mechanical properties as compared to their bulk counterparts. Surface- and quantum-related properties
are just some of the inherent fascinating properties of nanomaterials that make it more interesting to
study as compared to their bulk counterparts. It is a fact that the surface-to-volume ratio of a nanometer-
sized material is significantly higher than that of their bulk system. It has been proven that all properties
that are related to the dispersion of surface groups will result in a dependence on the inverse radius of
the particle and also on the number of the atoms. Further, this will also affect its surface energy, thus
affecting many other properties of the materials.

Similarly, due to confinement of the electron wave functions of the particular physical dimension of the
nanoparticles, the electronic structure of these nanometer-sized materials are more generally discrete,
and the energy is quantized and not overlapping (as in the case with bulk material phases). This explains
the enhanced magnetic and electrical conductive behavior of the materials at the nanoscale level. Also,
differences in the optical properties in nanosystems were observed, particularly in certain metallic
nanoparticles.

Physical Properties

Nanomaterials usually possess remarkable and unique physical properties compared to their bulk
counterpart, such as optical, electrical, catalytic, magnetic, mechanical, thermal or imaging properties

a. Color – due to the localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR), color variation is observed as the
size of the particles changes.
b. Melting point – as the size of the materials decreases, the melting point of the materials also
decreases due to the alteration of their thermodynamic and thermal properties as the size of the material
changes.

c. Mechanical Strength – as the size of the materials decreases (nanoscale range) increases crystal
perfection or reduction of surface defects, thus results in the enhancement in mechanical strength.

d. Electrical properties – the electrical property of nanomaterials is quite complicated. Reduction in

material dimension has two different contrasting effects on electrical conductivity.

e. Optical Properties – enhanced optical emission of nanomaterials due to quantum confinement

effect, the effect of surface plasmon resonance, and the increased energy level spacing.

Chemical Properties

When the size of the materials decreases up to the nanoscale range, the exposed surface area of the nano-
sized materials increases as compared to their bulk counterparts. As the amount of surface atoms being
exposed in nanoparticles as compared with the bulk object, then the reactivities of the said nanomaterials
are also increased drastically. Some of the essential features of the chemical properties of nano-sized
materials are summarized below:

1. Most often, changes in the behavior of materials are governed by the type of the exposed surface
atoms of the materials at the nanoscale. As the majority (about half) of all the atoms in nanoparticles are
surface atoms, properties such as electrical transport are no longer determined by the solid-state bulk
phenomenon. Electrical properties are directly related to the chemical properties of the materials.

2. Since there is a large proportion of surface atoms present in nano-sized materials, then the atoms
possess higher average energy as compared to atoms present in bulk structure.

3. The interactions between nanoparticles depend on the chemical nature of the surface. Due to
large surface area, high quantity charge species defects and impurities may be easily attracted to surfaces
and interfaces of nanoparticles. Thus, the chemical nature of the surfaces changes abruptly as compared
to their bulk counterpart.

4. Surface property and reactivities of nanomaterials can be tailored using molecular monolayer.

CLASSIFICATION OF NANOMATERIALS

The field of nanotechnology is an exciting area of science with diverse possible applications. The field is
continuously improving and even revolutionizing many technologies for different purposes.
Nanotechnology creates new products and nano-sized materials by thorough manipulation of matter at
the atomic and molecular level with improved and novel physico-chemical properties. The benefits of
nanomaterials depend on the specific properties that can be derived from the nanomaterials through
careful engineering of the sizes and structures of the materials to achieve specific properties.
The necessity of having a standard protocol in the classification of nanomaterials has been recognized due
to a rapid increase in the number of nanomaterials being synthesized. Significant activities toward the
preparation of different nanoarchitectures have been reported for the past several years; thus, the need
to categorized these nanomaterials is if great importance.

Nanomaterials can be classified depending on their origin, dimension, and their structural configuration.

a. According to their origin

i. Natural nanomaterials

Nano-sized materials that are naturally occurring in nature with remarkable properties due to inherent
nanostructures and with no human modification or process can be classified under this category. These
natural materials can be found everywhere in nature; in fact, fullerenes and graphene were being
discovered in space. Only with the recent technological advancement of instrumentation where the
researchers are now starting to locate, isolate, characterize, and classify the vast range of their structural
and chemical varieties20. Some of the examples of nano-sized materials under this category are the
following: minerals such as clays, natural colloids, mineralized natural materials (shells, corals, bones),
insect wings, opals, Lotus leaf, proteins (including antibodies), virus, etc.

ii. Artificial Nanomaterials

Nanomaterials under this category are those nano-sized materials that are prepared and synthesized
using a well-defined mechanical and fabrication process. Examples of artificial (synthesized)
nanomaterials are nanoparticles (gold, silver, magnetic), semiconductor nanoparticles (HgTe, quantum
dots), carbon nanotubes, nanocomposites, etc.

b. According to their dimensions

Nanomaterials also have a different number of dimensions. Their dimensionality is a major feature that
discriminates various types of nanostructures. Nanomaterials could have zero dimension (0D), single or
one dimensional (1D), double or two dimensional (2D), and three dimensional (3D) nanomaterials. Figure
4.3 shows the different dimensionality of nanomaterials with examples.

i. Zero Dimension (0D) Nanomaterials

The 0D nanomaterials are commonly represented by nanoparticles. In the 0D nanomaterials, the

dimension is measured within a nanoscale range, that is, less than 100 nm, which has no dimension.

ii. One Dimension (1D) Nanomaterials

Nanomaterials having needle-like structures are classified as 1D nanomaterials. They usually have two
physical dimensions within the range of 1-100 nm that makes their structure a needle-like form21. The
1D nanomaterials (Figure 4.5) are being one of the major areas of research due to the potential uses as
the building blocks for other structures. Likewise, these materials are noted to have a significant impact
on applications in electronics, display, and devices, composite materials, catalysis, and energy12-14.
iii. Two Dimension (2D) Nanomaterials

These types of nanomaterials are usually exhibiting a plate-like shape. The 2D nanomaterials have two
dimensions beyond the nanometric size in the range and are not confined to the nanoscale.

iv. Three Dimension (3D)

These nanomaterials possess three arbitrary dimensions above 100 nm and characterized as
nanocrystalline structures. These include bulk materials composed of the individual blocks, which are in
the nanometer scale (1-100 nm). It has been observed that the bulk nanomaterials have multiple
arrangements of nanosize crystals with different orientations. Applications of 3D nanomaterials greatly
depend on sizes, shapes, dimensionality, and morphologies. The 3D nanomaterials can contain dispersions
of nanoparticles, bundles of nanowires, and nanotubes as well as multiple nanolayers.

c. According to their structural configurations

Most of the synthesized nanomaterials could be classified into four major types based on their structural
configuration:

i. Carbon-based nanomaterials

These are nanomaterials that are composed mainly of carbon and usually take several forms; hollow
spheres, ellipsoids, or tubes. The spherical and ellipsoidal carbon nanomaterials are referred to as
fullerenes, while the cylindrical carbon nanomaterials are called nanotubes. Likewise, a single layer of
carbon atoms arranged in a hexagonal lattice is called grapheme. Nanodiamond is also an example of
carbon-based nanomaterials that are synthesized by high energy treatment of graphite, most commonly
via detonation, and are reported to be smaller than 10 nm. These materials have various potential
applications, including improved films and coatings, more robust and lighter materials, and applications
in electronics.

ii. Metal-based Nanomaterials

Most of the synthesized nanomaterials today are metal-based. Continued improvement on the synthetic
protocol for the preparation of a wide-variety of metal-based nanomaterials has been reported23.
Example of these materials includes nanosilver, nanogold, nano metallic oxides (zinc oxide, titanium
dioxide, iron oxide, and quantum dots). Through extensive research, applications of these types of
nanomaterials are currently being explored. For instance, ZnO and TiO2 nanoparticles are being used in
sunscreens and cosmetic products, and nanosilver is used in detergents, antibacterial agents, paints,
printer inks, and textiles.

iii. Dendrimers

Dendrimers are well-defined, multivalent molecules having a branched structure of nanometer size28.
The surface of a dendrimer possesses numerous chain which can be modified to perform specific chemical
functions. An example of the dendrimer is polyamidoamine (PAMAM), which is suitable for many
applications in material science and biotechnology.

iv. Composites
Nanocomposite refers to a multiphase solid material where at least one of the phases has one, two, or
three dimensions in the nanometer range (of less than 100 nm). Nanocomposite systems have been
studied extensively for the past decades. Likewise, nanocomposites can be classified according to their
matrix materials such as (1) metal, (2) ceramic, (3) polymer. Different types of nanocomposites with
examples are summarized in Table 4.1.

Table 4.1. Examples of the different types of nanocomposites

Class Examples

Metal Fe-Cr/Al2O3, Ni/Al2O3, Co/Cr, Fe/MgO, Al/CNT, Mg/CNT

Ceramic Al2O3/SiO2, SiO2/Ni, Al2O3/TiO2, Al2O3/SiC, Al2O3/CNT

Polymer Thermoplastic/thermoset polymer/layered silicates,

Polyester/TiO2, Polymer/CNT, polymer/layered double hydroxides

CNT – Carbon Nanotube

PREPARATION AND MANUFACTURING OF MATERIALS AT THE NANOSCALE

Nanomaterials, depending on their target applications, can be prepared by a variety of available synthetic
methods. It is an accepted fact that despite the recent technological advances, however, processing of
nanoparticles into bulk shapes while maintaining their nanosize is still a great challenge as far as structural
and engineering applications are concerned. Most often, the synthesis and assembly strategies of
nanoparticles involve the utilization of the required precursors; it could be from liquid, solid, or gas phase.
These varied techniques can be classified in top-down or bottom-up approaches.

a. Top-down Approaches

Generally, the top-down process is a nanofabrication technique that involves the reduction of particle
sizes to the nanometer range from the bulk structures. These processes occur when the structure is being
cut-out from a bigger piece manually or by a kind of self-structuring process. In these approaches, the
source material is being reduced from bulk size to nanoscale range as in attrition processes (e.g., grinding).
Thus, it can be viewed as an approach where the building blocks are removed from the substrate to form
the nanostructure. As reported, grinding is a mechanical attrition process, which operates on the solid
phase. Formation of powder components through aerosol and sol-gel techniques and then the
compaction of the components into the final material is an example of this approach. Usually, these
techniques can process nanoparticles with a high degree of monodispersity and invariable crystal
structure and surface derivatization. Despite its advantage over other techniques in terms of bulk
production of nanomaterials (e.g., cheap, controlled shape and size), however, one of the significant
challenges of these techniques is the imperfection of surface structure and significant crystallographic
damage to the processed patterns. These imperfections provide research opportunities as scientists and
engineers are continuously looking at the solutions to address the issues on structure imperfections in the
device design and fabrications.

b. Bottom-up Approaches

The bottom-up approach implies that the nanomaterials are prepared onto the substrate by stacking
atoms onto each other, which gives rise to crystal planes, crystal planes stack onto each other, resulting
in the synthesis of the desired nanostructures. Thus, this approach can be viewed as a synthetic approach
where the building blocks are added onto the substrate to form the desired nanostructures. The bottom-
up approach refers to the build-up of material from the “bottom”: atom-by-atom, molecule-by-molecule,
or cluster-by-cluster. Specifically, polymers were prepared by connecting individual monomers together,
and in crystal growth, growth species, such as atoms, ions, and molecules, after impinging onto the growth
surface, assemble into crystal structure one after another. Nanolitogrphay and nano-manipulation
techniques are examples of the bottom-up approach. These approaches offer advantages such as: able to
build smaller structures (as compared to the top-down approach), large-scale fabrication. However,
despite the mentioned advantages of these techniques, there are also some disadvantages such as:
require compatible surfaces and molecules, there are limited tools to manipulate molecules and atoms,
and these approaches are very costly, which means it requires huge capital for the equipment.

NANOTECHNOLOGY: APPLICATIONS AND ITS IMPACT TO SOCIETY

APPLICATIONS OF NANOTECHNOLOGY

Nanotechnology, as an emerging field, has been proven to be useful in various areas. Due to the
fascinating properties of the nano-sized materials, it opens the way for the development of new cost-
effective technologies for a wide-ranging application across disciplines. Some of the potential application
of nanotechnology are enumerated as follows:

1. Medicine – due to its small size, nanomaterials can be useful for both in vivo and in vitro
biomedical assays and programs. Nanomaterials were being utilized in the biomedical field as agents for
directed and site-specific treatment, especially cancer diagnosis and prognosis. With the appropriate
chemistry and finely-tuned nanostructures, these materials have shown great promise in the field of
medicine and in pharmaceutical industries.

2. Diagnostics – point-of-care diagnostic kits, lab-on-a-chip innovation based on integrated

nanomaterials, among others, are just some of the good examples of the broad application of
nanotechnology. Nanomaterial-mediated biosensors for glucose monitoring and other nanosensors for
diagnostic applications are the recent trends in nanotechnology research.

3. Drug delivery – increase in medication intake and reduced potential side effects can be attained
if the drug can be delivered directly to the affected area. Due to its small size and excellent surface
functionality, nanomaterials were being utilized as a vehicle for site-specific drug delivery.
4. Tissue Engineering – nanomaterial-based scaffolds are useful in the tissue engineering process to
help to reproduce or to fix broken tissues.

5. Chemistry and Environment – nanomaterials were utilized in chemistry, particularly in the field of
catalysis, where nanocatalysts were used in a chemical reaction. Likewise, nanomaterials with the
appropriate ligands can be used as nanoprobes in remediating harmful substances in the environment.

6. Energy – nanomaterials with special atomic arrangements provide an efficient and cleaner
approach to energy transformations, may provide an efficient way to the transportation of fuels, employ
new potentials in the production and development of efficient, inexpensive and environmentally energy
sources, among others.

7. Animal Science – nano-sized materials are being used in the development of drugs and nutritional
release systems, producing animal vaccines, and rapid diagnostic mechanism for recognition of animal
diseases.

8. Agriculture and Aquaculture – the promotion of biological metabolism is one of the functions of
nanotechnologies in agricultural production. Nanotechnology devices are being developed to promote
crop growth, increase yield, and improve the quality of crop products. Likewise, supplemented diet-based
nano-sized products of the elements such as selenium, iron, etc. can enhance the growth of fish, and other
aquatic organisms are the product of nanotechnology.

9. Water treatment – treatment of contaminated water is made possible through nanotechnology.

The development of an effective and efficient nanophotocatalyst for wastewater treatment has
demonstrated the potential application of nanotechnology in this field.

10. Catalysis – nanomaterial-based catalysts showed excellent catalytic properties for a variety of
applications. It exhibits excellent selectivity, extremely high activity, low energy consumption, and long
life-time.

11. Security and Defense – nanomaterials were used as surface coating, self-repair, selective removal,
corrosion resistance to military weaponry, among others. Nano-based sensors for the detection of
explosives, improvement on battlespace systems concerned with information, and signal processing are
just a few of the examples of the applications of nanotechnology in security and defense.

12. Forensic – nanotechnology enables faster forensic analysis, more accurate, more productive, and
easy to apply. Lab-on-a-chip devices would make it possible for non-technical personnel to perform on-
site/on-field forensic analysis.

IMPACTS OF NANOTECHNOLOGY TO SOCIETY

It cannot be underscored the excellent contribution of nanotechnology to the society as it offers plenty
of applications in various fields. However, it also possesses challenges towards the safety of the
environment and human health. The issue of the nanoparticle toxicity as it possibly can create new health-
related problems is a hot topic in the scientific community nowadays. It is also a fact that most of the
nanoparticles synthesized in the laboratory, which may have novel properties and characteristics, are not
protected by the existing defense mechanisms, such as immune and inflammatory systems. The
environmental impact of nanotechnology, on the other hand, is also an important issue that is actively
discussed among experts, particularly on matters pertaining to the dispersion and persistence of
nanoparticles in the environment.

Ethical and Social Issues of Nanotechnology

Advances in human well-being are the most critical concern that needs to be considered. Despite the
necessity for technology adoption, broadening economic and societal benefits, and accelerating and
increasing the return of investments, the ethical consideration of this technology has to be given equal
importance. It is projected that nanotechnology will create an automated diagnosis, which in turn will
translate into fewer patients requiring physical evaluation, less time needed to make a diagnosis, less
human error, and broader access to health -care facilities, the large number of elderly persons requiring
medical attention will result in increased health expenditures. And not only that, ethical concerns related
to the application of nano-medicine using human subjects in a clinical trial is something that should not
be taken for granted. Likewise, proliferation and uncontrolled release of nano-based products without
adequate testing have caused great public concern on the safety of the consuming public.

As the field of nanotechnology progresses and revolutionizes the traditional ways of the society’s
perspective towards technology adoption, several social and ethical questions are anticipated. As noted,
S&T is inseparable from society (culture and values, communication, entertainment, health status,
technology, and science) as newly developed technologies come into being through a complex interplay
of technical and social factors. It is noteworthy that the diffusion of the field of nanotechnology to society
is complex and only partially understood. Factors such as diffusion, rate, and direction of the impacts that
affect the assessment of the social implications of nanotechnology have been well studied. The economic
impact of technology is also worthy of being considered in assessing its overall societal contribution. In
fact, the manifold effects of nanotechnology-based products will likely take decades to work their way
through the socio-economic system due to nanotechnology diversity. Educating all nanotechnology
stakeholders about the short-term and long-term benefits, limitations, and risks of nanotechnology is the
best way to move forward to come up with decisions for sustainable, ethical, economic nanotechnological
development. Importantly, in order to take full advantage of opportunities for the nanotechnological
transformation, the entire scientific and technology community must set broader goals, creatively
envision the possibilities for meeting social needs, and involved all participants, including the general
public. Some of the specific societal and ethical issues of nanotechnology are enumerated as follows40:

a. Laboratory safety – consideration of the health and well-being of fellow researchers, reporting on
unsafe practices.

b. Environmental consequences of research – minimization and safe disposal of hazardous

substances, the fate of the wastes generated, fair notice to potentially affected parties.

c. Academic conduct – the integrity of research results, equitable authorship recognition practices.

d. Commercial fair dealing – respect of confidentiality and trade secrets.

e. Science education – interdisciplinary studies, ethics education.

f. Environmental, health, and safety concerns – ecological and toxicological effects of nanoparticles,
workplace, and consumer exposure.

g. Economic effects – rapid transformation and dislocation of industries, effects on wealth

distribution, intellectual property issues

h. Medical technologies – prospects for human enhancement and augmentation, improved genetic
screening, advanced cures.

i. Security and privacy implications – novel weaponry and defense techniques, pervasive
surveillance potential.

j. National and international politics – national research funding commitments and technology
transfer.

k. Media and public perceptions – polarized reactions to nanotechnology, the involvement of the
lay public in decision making.

l. Legal and regulatory issues – proactive versus reactive regulation, international standard-setting

m. Cultural and religious repercussions – new media and modes of representation, new challenges
in defining life.

Nanotechnology: Potential Benefits and Risks

With the collective efforts of scientists, technologists, and with the help of the government, industry, and
public groups, the applications of new and engineered nanomaterials are developing exponentially.
Nanotechnology-based products offer numerous potential benefits to health and the environment. The
development of engineered nanomaterials for renewable energy capture, battery storage, water
purification and treatment, food packaging, environmental sensors, green manufacturing process,
efficient electronic devices, among others, is an example of the potential benefits of nanotechnology.
Nanomedicine, a new field has progressed rapidly by integrating nanomaterials for drug delivery and site-
specific treatments. Development of a point-of-care diagnostic sensor and nanobionics has made
advances in solving problems of interfacing between medical devices are being enabled by integrating the
nanotechnology concept. Despite its benefits and its contribution to society, however, there are some
associated health and environmental risks. The development and method validation to evaluate the
toxicity of engineered nanomaterials are one of the major challenges as far as public safety is concerned.

Similarly, the scientific community is currently being challenged on the difficulty in coming up models to
predict the impact of engineered nanoparticles on the environment human health and develop methods
that can evaluate the impact of nano-based products over their entire life cycle. The difficulty lies in the
fact that there is no one-size-fits-all approach in terms of assessing the potential risks of nanotechnology
to humans and the environment. Instead, long-term goals need to be developed to design nanomaterials
that are guaranteed to be safe from initial manufacture right through to disposal, and not on the
development of methods to predict and measure the health and environmental impact. Importantly, the
development of strategic programs that supports the conduct of risk-focused researches is essential to
provide data somehow as far as the benefits and risks of nanotechnology are concerned. Open
communication to decision-makers and consumers with regards to the results of research on risks and
benefits is indeed essential. Summarized below are some of the specific issues and concerns showing the
potential benefits and risks of nanotechnology.

Potential benefits

a. Efficiency and environmental friendliness – nanoscale processes ensure little raw materials
needed, and thus small amount of wastes are expected to be generated.

b. Financial/economic benefits – highly developed countries are competing with each other in
promoting nanotechnology. The emerging field of nanotechnology enables a new wave of industrial
expansion that will magnify existing resource and energy use, economic growth, social vitality, and
enhanced human capabilities.

Potential risks

a. Weapons of war – there is a growing concern towards the utilization of nanomaterials in

developing more advanced and dangerous chemical weapons. Nanomaterials can be used as implants and
other means of soldier enhancement, and enhanced surveillance capabilities through nano-sensors.

b. Fear of the unknown – uncertainty in the potential accumulation of nanomaterials in nature have
caused fear, and doubts. Concerns on the possibility that engineered nanomaterials will be integrated into
the food chain, biological matrices, and environmental contamination are worthy of being explored.

c. False hype – the claimed benefits (including technical and/or economic) of nanotechnology may
not evenly distributed, and those claimed benefits may be diffused more on the affluent nations. The
majority of materials derived from nanotechnology and patents are concentrated only in the multinational
corporations in developed countries; thus, fears on the accessibility of nanomaterials, funds, and grants
in the developing nations arise, which may cause inequalities.