Small-scale science Nanotechnology: the stuff of science fiction or science fact?

ABSTRACT This article discusses nanotechnology as a route to the production of new materials and provides a brief history of the evolution of this branch of materials science. Properties on the nanoscale are compared with those on the macroscale. The practical application of nanomaterials in industries such as communications, construction, cosmetics, energy, medicine and textiles is discussed. What is nanotechnology? Nanotechnology (or nanoscience or nanomaterials) is essentially the study of the design, production and application of materials on the nanoscale, that is materials that are on a scale of a few millionths of a millimetre (typically 1–100 nm in size). One nanometre (nm) is 10−9 m and about the same length as ten atoms in a line (a typical atom has a diameter of about 0.1 nm). In contrast, a human hair is about 80 000 nm thick. Rather than being a new subjec