Nanoparticles: An Overview

In the 21st Century, Nanotechnology is expected to be the core of many other innovations in technology. A major benefit of this technology is the development of many new materials in the nanometer scale. Nanoparticles are one of those materials.

Nanoparticles can be defined as those particular microscopic materials which have at least one dimension of less than 100 nanometers. A nanoparticle is also known as nanopowder. One nanometer is equal 10-9 m. However, there is no clear dividing line between a nanoparticle and a non-nanoparticle.

You must be wondering how nanoparticles are manufactured.

Well, many of the nanomaterials are created directly as dry powder. But people often think that this powder stays in the same state even after its storage. But that is a myth. This is because the nanoparticles rapidly aggregate with a solid bridging mechanism in a few seconds. Thus, these nanoparticles should be kept separately. After this, they must be prepared and stored in a liquid medium.

This liquid medium is made to facilitate enough amounts of interparticle repulsion forces. These forces are used to prevent the aggregation between the particles.

Nanoparticles have certain specific properties that propel high scientific interest. They act as an effective bridge between the bulk materials and the atomic as well as molecular particles. There is a visible change in the properties of the materials as they approach the nano-scale. They show some special properties relative to the bulk materials.

These particles have a fairly high surface area to volume ratio. This feature offers a tremendous driving force for diffusion. This is more so in the case of elevated temperatures.

But these Nanoparticles pose a few medical and environment dangers. Most of these dangers are caused due to the high surface to volume ratio. This makes the nanoparticles intensely reactive or catalytic. On the other hand, the free nanoparticles in the atmosphere are quick to tend to agglomerate. Hence, they leave the nano-regime.

The research of nanoparticles is an area of great interest for scientists in present times. This is because nanoparticles have a vast potential of applications in a number of fields. Nanoparticles are used in optical, electronic and biomedical fields.

The wide aspect of its utility has made the U.S. government to grant a huge amount of fund exclusively for the intense research in nanoparticles. The National Nanotechnology Initiative takes care of this research.

Nanoparticles are used in bio-detection of pathogens, probing of DNA structure, MRI contrast enhancement, tumor destruction without heating, detection of proteins and tissue engineering. Thus, nanoparticles are highly beneficial in the fields of engineering and medicine. With bright prospects in nanotechnology, the future looks even brighter than before.