Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
1 st : Passive nanostructures
(1 st generation products)
Ex: coatings, nanoparticles, nanostructured metals, polymers, ceramics
~ 2000
2 nd : Active nanostructures
Ex: 3D transistors,
amplifiers, targeted drugs, actuators, adaptive structures
~ 2005
3 rd : Systems of nanosystems
Ex: guided assembling; 3D networking and new
hierarchical architectures, robotics, evolutionary
~ 2010
4 th : Molecular nanosystems
Ex: molecular devices 'by design',
atomic design, emerging functions
~ 2015-2020
Figure 1.2 Four generations of products: timeline for the beginning of industrial proto-
typing and nanotechnology commercialization. (With kind permission from Springer
Science + Business Media: J. Nanopart. Res. , 7 , 2005, 707-12, International Perspective on
Government Nanotechnology Funding in 2005, M.C. Roco, Figure 1.)
storage devices and so on. This is now the current generation and indeed some of
these structures and activities are being developed successfully for commercial
exploitation. Polymer-based drug delivery, for instance, is now well advanced
(Park, 2007 ; Yih and Al - Fandi, 2006 ).
In this system, the third generation (
2010 onwards) includes systems of nano-
systems that might self-assemble or self-organise, networking at the nanoscale to
form larger architectures (Renn and Roco, 2006). Examples are artifi cial organs
and electronic devices based on state variables (electron spin, nuclear spin or pho-
tonic state). The fourth generation (
2015/2020) includes molecular nanosystems,
where each molecule in the nanosystem has a specifi c structure and plays a different
role. Molecular machines might be designed by atomic manipulation and may be
used as devices that will approach the way biological systems work. Whatever
happens in the near-future, it is certainly clear that massive and rapid changes
are about to be brought about and it is incumbent upon us to be aware of these
changes and as a society to use them in a benefi cial manner, while minimizing any
attendant risks.
1.6
Applications of Nanotechnology
Even today, there are hundreds of commercially available products using nanotech-
nology currently on the market including cosmetics, sunscreens, paints and coatings,
catalysts and lubricants, water treatments, security printing, textiles and sport items,
medical and health cares, food and food packaging, plant production products,
 
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