Growing impact of Nano and Micro Technologies on Our Lives

Nanotechnology and microtechnologies offer the most potential for impacting the future of a huge range of sectors, explains Ankit A Shukla, Practice Director of Technical Insights (Europe) at Frost & Sullivan

Up to 85% of technologies developed globally never see the commercial light of day because they flounder in the so-called ‘valley of death’ – the virtual chasm that so often separates applied research from technology demonstration. To help industry stakeholders circumnavigate these dangers, it is necessary to evolve emerging technology platforms well poised to profoundly impact manifold sectors across the globe, while offering a potentially high return on investment (ROI). Following scanning and fore sighting of the global innovation landscape, it is of no surprise that nanotechnology (and the family of enabling capabilities) has been consistently identified as one of the most promising areas, with significant impact on our lives in the future.

The advent of nanotechnology on the modern landscape has dramatically changed the shape, size, quality, cost and efficiency of various applications. Nanotechnology is believed to be the most pathbreaking technology, with its market expected to reach $3.2trillion by 2017. The remarkable properties of the various nanomaterials have caught the attention of scientists, researchers, and manufacturers alike, and ongoing research activities are underway to harness their potential for the overall betterment of society. Nanomaterials, including nanotubes and nanoparticles, have experienced many years of R&D efforts on a global scale. Along with the material developers, a key reason for growing significance of nanotech in electronics is also the constant stream of innovation seen at equipment suppliers for the manufacture and testing of nanomaterials.

Thanks to substantial advances in nanotech-enabled products, the markets for nanotechnology-enabled platforms like nanomaterials (including nanotubes and nanocomposites, nanoparticles, nanowires and graphene) will flourish in the coming decade. Moreover, the R&D, commercialisation and market deployment resulting from successful adoption of nanotechnology across applications will be a key technology-driven economic booster for stakeholders involved in the landscape.

Policy development has also been a key driver for the sustained R&D and commercialisation growth that nanotechnology has experienced in the past. The EU Framework Programmes have been particularly useful in boosting activities, keeping in mind the commercial context as well as addressing human health, workers’ safety and environmental (HSE) aspects. Several research studies undertaken in the recent past have thrown up mixed results on the negative impacts of nanotechnology. Regulatory bodies across the world, including in the EU, have started working toward the development of an extensive risk assessment model that could fit in the risk related studies of all nanomaterials. Going forward, the abundant investments intended for the nanotechnology development stimulus package are expected to strengthen the research emphasis on the HSE aspect of nanotechnology.

Nanomaterials have the potential to revolutionize the electronics landscape. In line with the dynamic demands of the electronics sector, nanotechnology promises to offer enhanced performance and features over conventional solutions. Potential applications of these nanomaterials in electronics include: displays; circuits and processors (transistors, logic, memories, interconnects, heat dissipation materials); sensors; and flexible electronics.

With the rapid increase of portable computing devices, there is a growing need for new and scalable low-cost technology that helps to achieve miniaturized devices/components. The extraordinary chemical, physical and mechanical properties of nanomaterials not only provide more efficient materials solutions, but also enable the design and development of entirely new solutions. The key issue with respect to achieving low costs for these nanoelectronic devices is the need to develop more effective material and device manufacturing processes.

It has been identified that carbon nanotubes (CNTs) have achieved much greater adoption in the electronics displays sector. This is mainly attributed to the unique properties of nanotubes and the extent of R&D that has been carried out by the industry participants. It has been observed that utilisation of nanoparticles for displays is gradually gaining momentum, and that the performance of display devices is improved by the use of doped metal nanoparticles. The use of plastic nanoparticles is also being researched. Graphene, touted as the ‘next star’ of Nanotech world, has inherent qualities – its planar morphology yields conductivity increases in base polymers of a factor of 20 – that might make it a serious competitor to other nanotech platforms like CNTs for use in displays. However, the criticality of the manufacturing challenge associated with graphene largely hinders its commercial adoption. There are university as well as industry-level initiatives being taken in this direction. It is thus expected that graphene-based display solutions will emerge in the market in the near future.

Nanomedicine can be applied in several application areas such as therapeutic drugs, drug delivery, in vivo imaging, in vitro diagnostics, biomaterials, and active implants. The merger of nanotechnology and medicine may lead to useful research tools, advanced drug delivery systems and novel methods to cure diseases or repair damaged tissues or cells.

Nanotechnology also impacts catalyst development, through nanocatalysts that have higher conversion efficiency than that of conventional catalysts. Hence, they prevent the release of by-product gases, such as carbon dioxide, during a reaction. As a result, they are being used at an increasing rate in the petroleum industry to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. Nano-catalysis can be considered as a bridge between homogeneous and heterogeneous catalysis. Because of the nano-size – that is, high-surface area – the contact between reactants and catalyst increases dramatically, and they can operate in the same manner as homogeneous catalysts (close to homogeneous catalysis). Also, due to their insolubility in the reaction solvent, the catalysts can be separated out easily from the reaction mixture, so nanomaterials can combine the advantages of both systems, and can offer unique activity with high selectivity. Specific focus areas of various developers include: oil and gas, environmental applications such as clean air and water, alternative energy, polymer synthesis and bio-actives for pharmaceutical applications.

Nanotechnology has already been adopted in the automotive sector in a wide range of vehicle components, including the car body, windows, tires, control system, catalytic converter, and engine systems. Nanotechnologies are usually applied so as to significantly improve the safety, comfort, efficiency and eco-friendliness of future generation cars. Even in homeland security applications, nanotechnology capabilities are currently being used for applications like the detection of explosives, pathogens and low levels of particles; body armor development; and self-powered sensors.

Nanotechnology has carved a niche for itself in various applications. Diversification into new markets is a major goal for current commercial enterprises and R&D institutes, and sustained investment efforts will surely tilt the scales in favor of nanotechnology. The field of nanotechnology is steadily moving from the ‘nice to have’ to ‘must have’ category, based on both potential as well as reality. The technology has pushed into the realm of engineering challenge and commercialization from that of the visionary pipe-dream it was a decade ago.