ABSTRACT
Nanotechnology — a term introduced in 1974 to describe ultrafine machining of matter — now can be applied to a wide scope of small-scale engineering (133). Nanotechnology research has emerged as one of the most revolutionary scientific topics in decades. Nanotechnology focuses on the physical/biological structures smaller than 100 nm, which result in unique material properties because of their nanosize. Some of these structures can be manipulated and converted into nanomachines able to perform functions previously not possible. Nanotechnology arises from the exploitation of new properties, phenomena, processes, and functionalities that matter exhibits at intermediate sizes between isolated atoms or molecules (1 nm) and bulk materials (over 100 nm). The reason that nanoscale materials and structures are so interesting is that size constraints often produce qualitatively new behavior. When the sample size, grain size, or domain size becomes comparable with a specific physical length scale such as the mean free path of the molecules, the domain size strongly affects the corresponding physical phenomena. Figure 127.1 represents the fundamental science and engineering disciplines endowing in the nanoscience and nanotechnology development in their current state.
