WIll the smallest things on earth revolutionize our lifes??

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Will nanoparticles find significant industrial applications in the next 10 years to revolutionaize our lifes? Nanoparticles (100 nanometers or less) are currently investigated by many scientists as revolutionary solutions in medicine (to deliver drugs to tumors, treat chronic bacterial infections, boost immune responses, etc), in manufacturing (to produce stonger and lighter materials), in electronics ( to develop low cost electrodes for fuel cells) and in many other sectors and applications. The potential is huge, but as of today nanoparticles have found very little commercial applications, beacause they are not always the most economical and environmental friendly solutions. Are we close to a major breakthrough??

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Marco Capelli
78 months ago

4 answers

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One possible commercialization pathway for nanoparticles in the next 10 years is to provide life changing benefits like treating cancers where economical cost and environmental impact can be afforded.
Here's one latest development -
https://futurism.com/researchers-develop-treatment-fight-endometrial-cancer-nanoparticles/
In terms other industrial applications, large scale (no pun intended) adoption and usage will likely occur proportionally as the cost comes down (similar to the acceptance of other technologies as they became cheaper like TVs and smart phones).

Philip Tuet
78 months ago
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Nanotechnology has always been like algae biofuels...always 5 years away for the last 15 years. It isn't going to be like in the movies but it is being deployed on a daily basis. However because it is so radically different than before, unintended issues will likely slow nanotech deployment because of what we are seeing with IOT, Social Media, and Genetic Engineering.
If you want to stay up on current happenings I would follow this website: https://phys.org/nanotech-news/

James Stephens
78 months ago
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the nanoparticles offer advantages in form of providing high surface area per mass of particles. some nanoparticles are clusters of only a few molecules, offering unique surface properties. Owing to their size they can diffuse through biological membranes. These three characteristics have formed the basis for their current applications. In order to exploit their benefits at commercial scale, we need to manufacture tons of them with the same chemical composition and narrow size distribution, which seems to be hindering the progress. e.g. to provide 1 g of a nanoparticle based drug to 1 billion people a year we need to produce 1000 tons of material; which should not agglomerate by the time it is delivered to individual patient. We are at least 5 years away from achieveing this feat.
Besides, some nanoparticles have been a part of our lives without much fanfare, like the pigments in sunscreens and makeup.
We seem to be far away from building armies of self assembled nanobots that deliver magical properties to any machine.

Mayur Sathe
78 months ago
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The question is quite interesting. And the answer to your question is an emphatic "Yes". Let me give you a few examples of nanoparticles (NPs) which are already available commercially. 1. Feridex - an MRI contrast agent approved by FDA. 2. Samsung's Q-LED TV (quantum-dots enhanced LED LCD TV) 3. Zinc oxide in numerous sunscreen, are just a few examples of NPs in commercial products. But the biggest achievement has been in the field of electronics. The shrinking of transistor size from few 10s of microns in 70's to roughly the standard 14 nm Intel Processors at present times. This has made computing faster and affordable which has influenced all walks of life (Imagine anything). I could go on explaining the advantages of nanoscale in everyday life, since I am a Nano-biomedical Ph.D but I would limit myself here. The idea of having a smart phone in everyone's hand at present is proof enough that "small" is the new "big".

Krishnendu Chatterjee Ph.D.
77 months ago

Have some input?