An Editorial for Nanoscience and Nanotechnology: An Outlook to Nanotechnology

Abstract

The idea of synthesis of materials via direct manipulation of atoms, which was called Nanotechnology by Norio Taniguchi in 1974, dates back to renowned physicist Richard Feynman’s famous talk in 1959; “There is Plenty of Room at the Bottom”. Nanotechnology or Nanotech refers to manipulation of materials on the atomic and molecular level with at least one dimension in the scale of 1 to 100 nanometers. This means that quantum mechanical effects are more important than classical, average, effects. Nanotechnology has variety of potential applications including military, industrial, engineering, medical science and healthcare which resulted in huge investments by governments worldwide in related research programs. Based on definition by National Nanotechnology Initiative in the USA, Nanoscience and nanotechnology are naturally very broad and include many field of science, as diverse as surface science, chemistry, molecular biology, physics, micro fabrication, etc. For example, in the field of physics it includes approaches to device fabrication based on molecular self-assembly, from developing new materials with nanometer scale dimensions to control of matter on the atomic scale. Early in this century, increased scientific, political and commercial attention to Nanotechnology led to both controversy and vital research projects with a variety applications from military to medicine and healthcare [1].