This book is a journey through the world of nanotechnology research and
development that takes a very personal look at how nanotechnologies are
created today. You will read about 122 research projects that are taking
place in laboratories around the world and you will meet the scientists who
developed the theories, conducted the experiments, and built the new materials
and devices that will each take us one step further into our nanotechnology
future.
Chemists and biologists have always dealt with naturally occurring nanoparticles:
think molecules or viruses. Toxicologists have dealt with nanoparticles
that are the result of modern human life, such as carbon particles in
combustion engine exhaust. Without being aware of it, tire manufacturers used
nanoparticles (carbon black) to improve the performance of tires as early as the
1920s. Medieval artists (unknowingly) used gold nanoparticles to achieve the
bright red colors in church windows. You might even say that we are surrounded
by, and made of, nanomaterials—atoms and molecules are nanoscale
objects, after all. So why all the fuss about ‘‘nano’’ now?