Nanotechnology is the branch of science which works on the nanoscale. One nanometer is 10-9 of meter or billionth of a meter. A single sheet of newspaper is 100,000 nanometers thick. Nanotechnology is diversely used in many science fields like chemistry, biology, physics, materials science and engineering.
The concept of nanotechnology was brought up by physicist Richard Feynman who is considered the father of nanotechnology, he said, “There is plenty of room at the bottom”, he explained that individual atoms and molecules can be manipulated. The term nanotechnology was given by Professor Norio Taniguchi.
Challenge was to see nanosized materials which are very small than the size of an atom, not possible to see them with the naked eye. The size is so small, that the microscopes used in science classes couldn’t even visualize them. Nanoscale microscopes have been invented which are able to see at nanoscales such as scanning tunneling microscope (STM) and the Atomic force microscope (AFM) which have begun an era of nanotechnology.
Materials at nanoscale provide certain properties like higher strength, lightweight, increased control of light spectrum, and high chemical reactivity that’s why scientists and engineers are forming nanomaterials.
Nanotechnology has led to wide applications in the field of nanomedicine, nanoelectronics, biomaterials energy production, and consumer products etc. There are immense applications of nanotechnology, which has to lead the government to invest billions of dollars. USA government has invested $ 3.7 billion by the National nanotechnology initiative, and the European Union has invested $ 1.2 billion for nanotechnology research, and even the Japan government has invested $ 750 million.