Nanotechnology: do we really know it is?

We always become more familiar with the term nanotechnology. It begins to notice in our cotidianity, in movies, news, among others. But do we really know it is?

" Nanotechnology involves understanding the world of small, to innovate by building atoms and molecules capable of giving answers to socioeconomic problems”

In this small world, scale where nanotechnology operates, we find a new world that goes from 1 to 100 nanometers. It's really complicated descend to earth that would be this scale, so to achieve this we will need a hair. The diameter of this round in the 100 thousand nanometers, that is, we find ourselves on a “invisible” scale. As if this was little, everything we know acquires other properties, so we find that the water is actually not liquid and gold is not golden, among other surprises.

In fact, is it something new or just now we recognize it as such? The first records we have of nanotechnology go back to the 4th century with the famous glass of licurgo, a Roman cup made with dichroic glass, which is achieved by incorporating a small amount of gold and silver nanoparticles scattered in it. Another antiquity, this time of the 8th century, is the pigment known as maia blue of plant origin, which is given thanks to a clay that has nanoscopic cavities.

We could continue to name different articles and/or discoveries about this area when we didn't even know about it. But where do we find this science today? The reality is that we can observe in various areas, the most known, undoubtedly are:

Nanomedicine:

It is mainly used to improve the quality of life of people, engaging in vaccines and new drugs, including designing nanoparticles for diagnosis and treatment of diseases. A key example of this area is the nanodeliveries, which consist of small devices that carry themselves with a particular drug and can make deliveries in a controlled manner, a very useful method for the treatment of cancer.

Nanomaterials:

Definitely a tool for any domain we need and want incursions. Can be improved from additives to concrete, giving you more resistance and durability to buildings, even improve solar panels through nanoparticles

Nanoobotic:

The first area that crosses our minds by listening to nanotechnology, but with a wrong idea is that of a nanobot. It is not exactly a small metallic robot as most people think, but it is a small structure capable of being controlled and working autonomously. We can find several applications for the nanobot, such as water filtration or the desalinization of it, participating in the environment (from my perspective one of the most interesting) and others. Ademas of this, have the ability to fight pollution or help in food conservation.

Finally, it is worth clarifying that this article is not intended to raise the reasons why nanotechnology is elementary for the new revolution. I simply wish to have aroused enough curiosity to note that borders expand and propose new challenges, hoping that some of them will solve one of all the problems that arise.