All scientific work on manipulating matter at the nanoscale is referred to as nanotechnology.
Nanotechnology-related research spans a wide range of fields, including organic chemistry, molecular
biology, surface science, and microfabrication. The same substance as a large molecule differs from a
nanoparticulate substance in terms of its qualities. This is due to nanoparticles' small size and high
surface area to volume ratios.
The same substance as a large molecule differs from a nanoparticulate substance in terms of
its qualities. This is due to nanoparticles' small size and high surface area to volume ratios.
Scanner tunnelling microscope usage
0.1 nm of lateral resolution and 0.01 nm of depth resolution are considered good resolutions
for STM microscopes, which are often employed in basic and applied research. Researchers
can investigate surfaces at the atomic level thanks to the great resolution of the microscope.
By examining the electron density of the surface atoms, they may gain an understanding of
how atoms are structured on a surface. When a conducting tip is brought very close to a
surface and a voltage differential between the tip and the surface is applied, STM
microscopes are comparable to quantum tunnelling in that the electrons can tunnel through
the vacuum between the tip and the surface, resulting in a tunnelling current. In STMs, the
tip is electrically charged by the microscope as it moves near the surface. This produces an
image that displays minute, atomic-level features.
Utilisation of an atomic force microscope
The resolution of the AFM is very great. The AFM's tip is extremely small, with a width of
less than a nanometer. The position of the laser beam on the detector moves as the tip
travels up and down while scanning across the sample's surface while a laser is pointed at
the cantilever, to which the tip is attached. With the help of this technique, you may create a
topographical representation of the surface that has enough detail to show where certain
atoms are located.
Chemical and physical characteristics:
There are three layers which make up a nanoparticle:
- The surface layers
- The shell layers
- The core
Polymers and metal ions are among the many components that make up the surface layer. A
single substance or a combination of components may be present in a nanoparticle.
Depending on their chemical and electromagnetic characteristics, nanoparticles can appear
in a variety of forms, such as:
- Suspensions
- Colloids
- Dispersed aerosols.
, Weak van der Waals forces, robust polar and electrostatic contacts, or covalent connections
predominate in interactions between nanoscale particles. The interparticle interaction
controls particle aggregation and depends on the fluid's polarisability and viscosity. Charges
may build up in the nanoparticles suspended in the air due to physical processes like
photoemission.
Types of nanoparticles:
Nanotubes:
- Which have a diameter of a few microns to a few nanometers, are a novel type of
carbon. Typically, they are one atom thick. They exhibit behaviour in relation to
qualities including strength, stiffness, and toughness as well as electrical and thermal
conductivity. Nanotubes are perfect for use in high-resolution probes in atomic force
microscopy because they may be functionalized and given a specific purpose. They
have molecular recognition agents that selectively bind to molecular tags.
Nanowires:
- Solid, dense structures that are constructed atom by atom under precise supervision,
allowing impurities to affect the wire's electrical conduction qualities. The
nanorobots are meant to have onboard power systems, which require structures like
nanowires to create and conduct electricity. They are very thin structures that play a
crucial part in nano-size technologies like nanorobots, which doctors could utilise to
cure diseases like cancer.
Nanotunnels:
- Double-membrane tubular protrusions that range in size from 40 to 200 nm. They
surface from mitochondria in tissues with constrained mitochondrial mobility or from
mitochondria on the surface of immobilised mitochondria. Matrix and membrane
proteins are transported between mitochondria by nanotunnels. Microtubule
disruption prevents nanotunnel formation, which disrupts calcium dynamics in
muscle cells and leads to genetic mitochondrial defects associated with increased
abundance of mitochondrial nanotunnels. In a cell-free system, only microtubules,
mitochondria, and ATP are required to produce mitochondrial protrusions.
Applications of nanotechnology:
Chemotherapy:
- Chemotherapy has been used to treat cancer, yet it can seriously harm a person's
body. Nanoparticles may make it possible to eliminate tumours and tumours with
little harm to healthy bodily tissues and organs and without the harmful side effects
associated with chemotherapy. Tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF), a molecule of a
tumour-killing agent, and Thiol, a molecule of derivatized polyethylene glycol (PEG-
THIOL), which hides the TNF bearing nanoparticle from the immune system and
allows it to flow through the blood stream without being attacked, were used in the
trial, according to results published by researchers working on the use of
nanotechnology in chemotherapy. TNF has demonstrated that it works best when