Europe Nanotechnology Materials & Applications

Nanotechnology refers to the manufacturing or production materials, simple devices and complex functional compounds on the level of atoms and molecules. The term is derived from the general scale of nanotechnological materials and structure technologies at sizes less than one nanometer. Nanotechnology manufacturing involves chemical and physical processes capable of producing the desired functional molecules and structures, as well as the production of self-producing or self-assembling nanotechnologies and nanostructures. The majority of the related nanotechnology industry is limited to research and development (R&D) activities with relatively few nanostructure and nanotechnology products released to the market, with the majority coming with advances in related fields such as genetic engineering, supramolecular chemistry, nanolithography, atomic layer deposition, and interface and colloid sciences.

Applications for nanotechnology are diverse. Fullerenes (spherical molecules of carbon atoms also known as buckyballs) and carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have been proposed as structural materials due to their excellent mechanical properties, nano transistors for memory circuits, batteries, and solar cells with fullerenes that capture electrons and CNTs that create a current through their conductivity. Solid state circuit technology can utilize nano-scale molecules and compounds to function as nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) at a scale below microelectromechanical (MEMS) systems. Nanotechnology has provided antimicrobial and self-cleaning coatings and materials that use silver-based and other compounds to inhibit bacterial growth. Antimicrobial nanotechnology could also be used in medicine and water treatment. Quantum dots produced through advanced epitaxy and thin film layer deposition have unique semiconductive properties appropriate to transistors, solar cell, LED and laser manufacturing.