nanotechnology short essay

Nanotechnology: Applications and Implications Research Paper

What is nanotechnology, applications of nanotechnology, concerns about nanotechnology.

Nanotechnology is an emerging technology which is developing at an exponential rate. The technology utilizes novel characteristics of materials that are exhibited only at nanoscale level. Although still in early stages, this technology has signaled potential and breakthroughs in many areas such as medicine, computer technology, food industry, building construction, environment protection to mention just a few.

The many exciting products it promises have served to draw a lot of attention to it. Many findings of nanotechnology are quickly being implemented in viable commercial products. This is in spite of insufficient toxicological data about the environmental and biological effects of such nanomaterials.

As nanotechnology gains widespread application in various disciplines, it is imperative to understand its potential effects. This is important for its long terms sustainability. It is also equally critical to set up necessary control legislations and benchmark standards to control research and commercial application of this emerging technology.

The last half of the last century witnessed the technological world going “micro” evidenced by microdevices and microparticles. However, from the start of 21 st century, the “micro” is poised to give way to the “Nano”. Nanotechnology is an emerging technology that is offering promises of breakthroughs cutting across multiple subjects such as medicine, food industry, energy sector and environmental remediation to mention a few.

The Potential of nanotechnology to solve hitherto “unsolvable” problems by conventional technologies has attracted the attention of government and commercial corporations with diverse interests. Billions of dollars for research and development continue to be channeled to nanotechnology projects all over the world. This paper presents the potential applications of nano-inventions in selected areas of medicine, pollution control, energy, construction, computer technology, and food sectors.

While the benefits of this emerging technology appear to be immense, its environmental and social effects also need to be given as much attention. Nanotechnology is a relatively nascent industry and its potential uses and effects need to be exhaustively established researched before mass production and commercialization. Nanotechnology is the most significant emerging technology today and will play a major role in social, economic, and environmental developments in this century.

Nanotechnology is the “creation of functional materials, devices, and systems through the manipulation of matter at a length of ~1-100 nm” (Srinivas, et al., 2010).

At such scale, matter exhibits new properties unlike those observed at larger scales (Wickson, Baun, & Grieger, 2010). This includes enhanced plasticity, change in thermal properties, enhanced reactivity and catalysis, negative refractivity, faster ion/electron transport and novel quantum mechanical properties (Vaddiraju, Tomazos, Burgess, Jain, & Papadimitrakopoulos, 2010).

The novel properties of matter at nanoscale has been explained by the presence of quantum effect, increase in surface area to volume ratio and alterations in atomic configurations (Wickson et al., 2010). The properties of nanomaterials may be characterized in terms of size, shape, crystallinity, light absorption and scattering, chemical composition, surface area, assembly structure, surface structure, as well as surface charge.

Some of the techniques used in nanoscience to study these properties include Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM), Energy Dispersive X-ray Analysis (EDX), Atomic Force Microscopy (ATM), Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), X-ray Diffraction (XRD), UV-Vis-nIR Spectroscopy, Extended X-ray Absorption Fine structure (EXAFS) , Photoluminescence Spectroscopy (XPS), Chemisorption among other new only developed ones.

The applications of nanotechnology are as a result of investigating and utilizing these properties (Wickson et al., 2010). There are a host of substances utilised in nanotechnology, the most researched ones are carbon, silicon dioxide and titanium dioxide (Robinson, 2010). Others are aluminum, zinc, silver, copper and gold (Robinson, 2010).

Nanotechnology projects continue to channel out a wide range of applications at a very high rate (Dang, Zhang, Fan, Chen, & C.Roco, 2010). This exponential growth rate is evident from the number of patent applications. Data by Dang and fellow researchers (2010) shows that patent application for nanotechnology inventions in developed countries increased from zero percent in 1991 to about 27 % in 2008 and that this growth is set to continue for the better part of this century.

Spurred by huge funding from government and commercial players, nanotechnology projects continue to release more and more potential innovations into the market. This may be an indication that nanotechnology will in future play a pivotal role in scientific and economic development (Dang et al., 2010). Nanotechnology may be a critical solution for companies seeking to stay ahead of competitors. The potential of nanotechnology appears limitless as can be shown by the number of areas where it is already being applied.

Nanomedicine

This field encompasses pharmaceutical and medical nanotechnology. It is one of the most active areas of nanotechnology due it promises of novel therapeutic applications in crucial areas such as cancer therapy, drug delivery, imaging, biosensors and diagnosis.

Nanoparticles have been cited as having great potential in vivo imaging applications (Solomon & D’Souza, 2011). Already, a surface functionalized iron oxide nanoparticle is being used in modern imaging technologies such as magnetomotive imaging. This type of imaging is comparatively powerful and is expected to improve disease diagnosis significantly.

Nanoparticles are also being engineered to be used to enhance drug biodistribution and delivery to target sites in the body. This approach seeks to deliver drug agents to affected sites without damaging the healthy cells. This has been promising in the case of solid tumors whereby a transferrin-modified cyclodextrin nanoparticle successfully delivered anti-tumor agents to the target tumor site in human subjects (Solomon & D’Souza, 2011).

Nanoparticles have also displayed the ability to cross the blood-brain barrier, a major impediment to drug delivery to the brain, thus offering hope of improving the efficacy of some drugs. It has also been reported that nanoparticles conjugated to model antigens have been able to stimulate immunity in mice (Solomon & D’Souza, 2011). This indicates potential for application in improving vaccine therapy.

Elsewhere, nanoparticles have been used to engineer self-assembled tissue capable of repairing damaged tissues in rats though this is yet to be replicated in humans. Another area that has generated much interest is in production of microscopic and highly sensitive in vitro and in vivo biosensors. This application holds the promise of increasing portability and lowering the cost of such devices.

Nanoparticles are increasingly gaining application in cancer therapy. Nanoparticles are for this purpose is characterized by surface modifications that enable them interact with receptors of target cells. This makes it possible to develop therapies targeting cancerous cells only while leaving out healthy cells.

Free radical such as superoxide, hydroxides and peroxides has been known to produce disease initiating changes in cells. To counter this adverse effect, neuroprotective compound is being developed using carbon-60 fullerene (Silva, 2010). In terms of detection of biochemical compounds carbon nanotubes have been used for detection DNA and proteins in serum samples.

Nanotechnology has opened up new possibilities in regard to medical application. The technology has potential to alter medical therapy in many ways.

Pollution control

Waste disposal remains a challenging task for many industries. Current waste disposal technologies are expensive and require a lot of time to render the waste less harmful. In addition, current processes such as air stripping, carbon adsorption, biological reactors or chemical precipitation produce highly toxic wastes that require further disposal (Karn, Kuiken, & Otto, 2009).

Nanoremediation is a new form of waste disposal mechanism that utilizes nanoparticles to detoxify pollutants. nZVI, a nanoscale zero-valent iron has gained widespread use in this area and has been applied in remediating polluted in situ groundwater. This technology has been cited as cost-effective and faster compared to traditional pump-and-treat methods (Karn et al., 2009).

Other forms of pollution solutions employ the use of nanocatalysts. Just like biological and chemical catalysts, nanocatalysts speed up chemical reaction leading to decomposition of the reactive species. This is already being used to detoxify harmful vapor in cars and industrial machinery. Notable ongoing projects in pollution control include research on the recycling greenhouse gas emissions using carbon nanotubes (CNT) (Zhao, 2009).

For his effort, the researcher for this “green” solution received an $ 85,000 Foundation Research Excellence Award (Zhao, 2009). Nanoparticles have also been used to treat highly polluted industrial waste (Zhao, 2009). Nanotechnology is also aiding in improving current water purification technologies. The technology has made it possible to decrease the membrane pores to nanoscale levels leading to greater filtration power.

Energy applications

Nanotechnology has offered promises and potential for development of efficient and long-lasting energy devices. Nanofabricated energy storage compounds have been cited as potentially beneficial as they may serve as replacement for traditional environmentally harmful fossil fuels.

It is expected that nanoscience for energy application will transfer the nano-scale effects of energy carriers such as photons, phonons, electrons, and molecules to conventional photovoltaic, photochemical solar cells, thermoelectric, fuel cells and batteries. This is expected to greatly enhance the capacity, life, and efficiency of such energy producers. Laboratory tests have already shown that the nanomaterials-based electrodes enhance the charge storage capacity and reaction rates in fuel cells.

Also, nanomaterials such as carbon nanotubes and carbon nanohorns are proving useful in energy application due to their ability to provide excellent conductivity for charge transport (Yimin, 2011). Some nanomaterials e.g., PbTe-based quantum dot superlattice system, have demonstrated improved energy conversion efficiency. This property has been suggested to be replicated to produce more energy-efficient thermoelectric devices used to convert waste heat energy into electricity (Yimin, 2011).

This is necessary as the energy efficiency of most thermoelectric devices is very low. In terms of energy conservation, semiconductor nanostructures are actively being explored for the development of highly luminous and efficient light-emitting diodes (LED). This can have a significant impact in energy conservation as lighting uses about 20% of the total electric power generated (Yimin, 2011). Nanostructures are also gaining application in solar energy technologies.

Nonastructured photovoltaic materials have been cited as potentially significant in improving the efficiency of solar energy-based devices. To this end, nanomaterials, such as quantum dots and dye-sensitized semiconductors, are being tested for the possible production of next-generation solar devices projects (Yimin, 2011).

Nanotechnology has the potential to revolutionize man-made energy. Although still, in early phases, nanomaterials have the potential to deliver efficient, high capacity, clean and more durable energy solutions. The challenge, perhaps, remains the development of controlled large scale manufacturing approaches that will ensure greater realization of the powers of these promising materials.

Food nanotechnology

Application of nanoscience in food industry has opened up numerous new possibilities for the food sector. Areas that have gained prominence in this area include food packaging and preservation. Attention to this sector has been contributed by projections of enormous economic gains it offers. Data shows that sales of nanotechnology products to food and beverage packaging sector is expected to surpass US $20.4 billion beyond 2010 (Sozer & Kokini, 2008).

Already, bionanocomposites, which are nanostructures with enhanced mechanical, thermal, and porosity properties, are being used in food packaging. Additional benefits of bionanocomposites include being environmentally friendly as are they are biodegradable as well as increasing the food shelf life (Sozer & Kokini, 2008). Bioactive packaging materials made of nanomaterials have been used in controlling oxidation of foodstuffs and formation of undesirable textures and flavors (Sozer & Kokini, 2008).

One of the nanomaterials with high potential here is carbon nanotube. Apart from offering enhanced mechanical properties to food packaging materials, it has been discovered that the same tube could be possessing effective antimicrobial effects.

This is due to the fact that Escherichia coli bacteria have been found to immediately die upon coming in contact with aggregated nanotubes (Sekhon, 2010). Another area being explored is the fortification of food packaging with nano active additives that would allow controlled release of nutrient into the stored food.

Nanomaterials have also been said to have potential application in food preservation. Nanosensors made to fluoresce in different colors when in contact with food spoilage microorganisms, have been selected as a possible solution. This may reduce the time it takes to detect food spoilage and thus lessen cases of food poisoning.

Examples are nanosilica, already used in food packaging and nanoselenium, which has been added into some beverage and said to enhance uptake of selenium. Nano-iron is also available and is used as a health supplement, although it can also be used in the treatment of contaminated water. Said to be still under development, nanosalt has to be cited as having the benefit of enabling reduction in dietary salt intake.

Another nanoagent, nanoemulsion is already being used to add nanoemulfied bioctives and flavors to beverages (Sekhon, 2010). Nanoemulsions have also proved effective against gram-negative bacteria, a major food pathogen (Sekhon, 2010). Elsewhere scientists have also reported improved bioavailability and color changes brought about by iron/zinc-containing nanostructures.

Other areas being explored include probiotics and edible nanocoatings. Probiotics will entail using nanofabrications to deliver beneficial bacterial cells to the gut system while edible nanocoatings will be in the form of edible coatings to provide barrier to moisture, gas exchange, and deliver food enhancement additives.

It is clear that nanotechnology presents unlimited opportunities to the food industry. However, just like the controversy that followed GMOs food, foodstuffs bearing nano components are surely bound to generate a prolonged public debate. This is because the effects of such miniscule particles in the consumer body remain unclear. Nevertheless, given the nascent nature of nanotechnology, such opposition is expected.

Computer technology

Nanotechnology is expected to revolutionize computer architecture technologies. Current processors have an unofficial limit of 4 GHz. This year a synthetic material capable of replacing silicon, the long-standing semiconductor of choice in the 20th century, and attaining a clock speed of 6 GHz was unveiled (Partyka & Mazur, 2012).

This is because nanotechnology presents the possibility of adding even more transistors per a nanometric length than what is possible through current microprocessor development technologies.

What is even more interesting is that this development could not have come at a more opportune time as silicon processors are expected to have attained their maximum performance by 2020 (Partyka & Mazur, 2012). This year scientists have also announced the successful development of a Nano transistor “based on single molecules of a chemical compound” (Partyka & Mazur, 2012, n.p).

Application of nanotechnology in construction

Nanotechnology portends immense benefits for the future of the construction sector. From the amazing self-cleaning window to the “smog-eating” concrete, this technology has the capability of transforming building materials to new levels in terms of energy, light, strength, security, beauty and intelligence (Halicioglu, 2009).

The development of super-strength plastics has a possible application in diverse areas such as in cars, trucks, and planes where it can serve to replace heavy metals leading to significant energy savings (Zhao, 2009). Nanomaterials such as carbon nanotubes have been found to possess strength and flexibility on a much larger scale compared known strong materials such as steel. Nanocoatings have been suggested as possible solutions to insulation, microbial activity, and mildew growth in buildings (Halicioglu, 2009).

Nanotechnology is expected to produce unique bio-products characterized by hyper-performance and superior serviceability (Halicioglu, 2009).

Notable nanoparticles already in use in construction are titanium dioxide (TiO 2 ) and carbon nanotubes (CNT’s). Titanium dioxide is being used in degrading pollutants in buildings while carbon nanotubes have been applied in strengthening and monitoring concrete (Halicioglu, 2009).

Just like other applications of nanotechnology, nanomaterials are used in construction sector yet their environmental, health effect, and other risks remain unclear. However, despite this drawback, nanotechnology has the potential to revolutionize building design and construction in the near future.

Concerns have been raised about nanotechnology. Nanoparticles have been said to be potentially unsafe for the biological system (Vishwakarma, Samal, & N.Manoharan, 2010). Owing to their small size, these particles can gain entry into the body easily through the skin, mucosal membranes of nose or lungs through inhalation. Their catalytic properties are likely to produce dangerous reactive radicals such as hyper-reactive oxygen with much toxic effects.

These reactive radicals have been linked to chronic diseases such as cancer. Once inside the body, nanoparticles may reach the brain or liver. This is because nanoparticles are able to cross the blood-brain barrier. Their effects on these organs are yet to be established. The nature of their toxicity remains a speculation, but the disruption in the body chemistry cannot be ignored.

The Royal Society of UK’s National Science Academy has reported that nanotube can cause lung fibrosis when inhaled in large amount over long periods (Vishwakarma et al., 2010). Early research has also shown that some types of nanoparticles could cause lung damage in rats (Vishwakarma et al., 2010).

Possible environmental effects of nanoparticles have also been documented. Because they are easily airborne, and adhesive, it is claimed nanoparticles may enter the food chain with profound undesirable changes on the ecosystem.

Currently, there are no standard techniques for assessing nanocompounds hazards. This, together with the unique features of nanomaterials – large surface area, multi forms, makes risk assessment difficult (Williams, Kulinowski, White, & Louis, 2010). Quality control for nanomaterials manufacturing, terminology as well as nomenclature standards are also lacking.

Additionally, it is alarming that currently there is no data on potential hazards, dose-response relationships and exposure levels of nanomaterials used in numerous applications (Musee, Brent, & Asthton, 2010). It is also worth stating that much of current funding on nanotechnology is directed toward potentially viable commercial projects while little is channeled towards risk assessment initiatives (Musee et al., 2010). This needs to be reversed.

Nanotechnology has the potential to revolutionize our lives. This is because it presents almost unlimited potential to make remarkable changes in virtually all fields ranging from medicine, computer technology, construction, environmental remediation, food industry, to new energy sources.

Despite presenting many potential benefits in many areas, nanotechnology of today is still in its infancy as just a few projects have been commercialized. Many are yet to undergo full lifecycle assessment. The number of nanotechnology innovations continues to rise. However, the same cannot be said of research about their potential effects on environment and biological systems.

As the world readily adapts to this new technology wave, concomitant effort should be directed to the understanding of their possible impacts. This is essential to ensure that nanomaterials do not become the new hazard of 21 st century. The long-long term sustainability of this new technology may depend on the establishment of its risks.

Dang, Y., Zhang, Y., Fan, L., Chen, H., & C.Roco, M. (2010). Trends in worldwide nanotechnology patent applications: 1991:2008. Journal of Nanoparticles Research, 12 , 687-706.

Halicioglu, FH (2009). The potential benefits of nanotechnology innovative solutions in the construction sector . Web.

Karn, B., Kuiken, T., & Otto, M. (2009). Nanotechnology and in situ remediation: A review of the benefits and potential risks. Environmental Health Perspectives, 117 , 1823-1831.

Misra, R., Acharya, S., & Sahoo, S. K. (2010). Cancer nanotechnology: Application of nanotechnology in cancer therapy. Drug Discovery Today, 15 (19), 843-856.

Musee, N., C.Brent, A., & J.Ashton, P. (2010). South African research agenda to investigate the potential enviromental,health and safety risks of nanotechnology. South African Journal of Science, 106 (3/4), 6 pages.

Partyka, J., & Mazur, M. (2012). Prospects for the appliication of Nanotechnology. Journal of Nano-Electronics Physics, 4 (1).

Robinson, R. (2010). Application of nanotechnology in green building practises . Web.

Sekhon, S.B. (2010). Food nanotechnology-an overview. Nanotechnology, Science and Applications, 3 , 1-15.

Silva, G. A. (2010). Nanotechnology applications and approached for neuroregeneration and drug delivery to the central nervous system. Annals of New York Academy of Science, 1199 , 221-230.

Solomon, M., & D’Souza, G. G. (2011). Recent progress in the therapeutic applications of nanotechnology. Current Opinion in Pediatrics, 23 , 215-220.

Sozer, N., & Kokini, J. L. (2008). Nanotechnology and its applications in the food sector. Trends in Biotechnology, 27 (2), 82-90.

Srinivas, P. R., Philbert, M., Q.Vu, T., Huang, Q., Kokini, J. L., Saos, E., et al. (2010). Nanotechnology research: Applications in nutritional sciences. Journal of Nutrition, 140 (1), 119-124.

Vaddiraju, S., Tomazos, I., Burgess, D. J., Jain, F. C., & Papadimitrakopoulos, F. (2010). Emerging synergy between nanotechnology and implantable biosensors. Biosens Bioelectron, 25 (7), 1553-1565.

Vishwakarma, V., Samal, S. S., & N.Manoharan. (2010). Safety and risk associated with nanoparticles. J or Mineral & Material Characteristics & Engineering, 9 (5), 455-459.

Wickson, F., Baun, A., & Grieger, K. (2010). Nature and nanotechnology: Science,ideology and policy. Int J of Emerging Tech & Society, 8 (1), 5-23.

Williams, R. A., Kulinowski, K. M., White, R., & Louis, G. (2010). Risk characterization for nanotechnology. Risk Analysis, 30 (1), 144-155.

Yimin, Li (2011). Nano scale advances in catalysis and energy applications . Web.

Zhao, J (2009). Turning to nanotechnology for pollution control: Applications of nanoparticles . Web.

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IvyPanda. (2019, July 9). Nanotechnology: Applications and Implications. https://ivypanda.com/essays/nanotechnology/

"Nanotechnology: Applications and Implications." IvyPanda , 9 July 2019, ivypanda.com/essays/nanotechnology/.

IvyPanda . (2019) 'Nanotechnology: Applications and Implications'. 9 July.

IvyPanda . 2019. "Nanotechnology: Applications and Implications." July 9, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/nanotechnology/.

1. IvyPanda . "Nanotechnology: Applications and Implications." July 9, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/nanotechnology/.

Bibliography

IvyPanda . "Nanotechnology: Applications and Implications." July 9, 2019. https://ivypanda.com/essays/nanotechnology/.

Just as the invention of light microscopes revolutionized human understanding of the natural world, modern microscopes that can reveal and alter individual atoms are once again exposing a whole new world—the nano world.

A nanometer (nm) is a unit of length equivalent to one billionth (10-9) of a meter. For comparison, a single sheet of paper is approximately 100,000 nm thick and a strand of DNA is 2.5 nm across. By studying and controlling matter at this nanoscale (1-100 nm), scientists can alter individual atoms and molecules. These alterations can lead to changes in the physical, chemical, biological, and optical properties of matter. When compared to their larger counterparts, nanoparticles can exhibit more or less strength, flexibility, reactivity, reflectivity, or conductivity.

After only 20 years of research and development, the creation of nanotechnologies and nanodevices is occurring at a rapid rate. Nanotechnology is aiding and revolutionizing many different aspects of science and industry, including energy, environmental science, homeland security, transportation, food safety, information technology, and medicine. As with any new technology or field of study, it is important to examine the potential for unintended consequences, especially those related to human and environmental health.

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12: Case Study on Nanotechnology

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Here we delve into a case study on nanotechnology which is an ancient technology as well as a cutting-edge modern technology. This contradiction is exactly why this is an interesting case study for learning what engineering (and science) is all about.

This section is meant to be accompanied with an inexpensive textbook. Fortunately wikibooks has such a textbook (free): The Opensource Handbook of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology

This book is an excellent if a bit incomplete introduction (for an engineer or scientist) to nanotechnology. Some of the topics however might be overly advanced for an introduction to engineering class, so in this section nanotechnology will be reviewed with an assumption that the student will use the textbook above (or another one of their choice) to supplement. This section is not meant to take more than a week in an actually instructive setting.

What is naontechnology?

To begin with let us do another class discussion that asks the question: What is nanotechnology? Discuss before looking at some answers.

Carbon allotropes

Because "buckyballs" are the start of the modern revival of nanotechnology (at least from a media point of view) let us go over some of carbon allotropes that are making headlines.

While nanotechnology is an old technology, a new modern revival of the technology came about with discovery of C 60 or the Buckminsterfullerene (buckyball) named after Buckminster Fuller because of his penchant for building geodesic domes. Why geodesic domes? Because these domes are based off the Platonic solids 3 and C 60 is a truncated icosahedron (one of the Platonic solids).

C 60 were produced in 1985 during an experiment to help understand certain carbon molecules that might have been generated in space. Why do such an experiment? Because most stars have debris surrounding them with carbon in it and some have very long chains that are of interest to astronomers. Hence the experiment. The actual generation of C 60 was not intended but serendipity. From an engineering and science point of view, the analysis after the experiment was the real research because C 60 was identified through analysis after the experiment that did not aim to produce them or even know of their existence.

The buckyball is now considered a part of the fullerene family. An outline of facts about buckyballs:

• Truncated Icosahedron (like a Telstar football or "a soccer ball circa 1970s")
• 0.7 nm in diameter with a spacing of about 1 nm between adjacent buckyballs
• Can be made into a superconductor
• Offshoot studies led to the discovery of the carbon nanotube (next topic)
• Has been detected in burning candles (a modern addition to Faraday's The Chemical History of a Candle , yes?)
• Stacked buckyballs
• A huge amount, not miniscule
• The most massive particle to show wave-particle duality ( Nature 1999 )

There are many articles about buckyballs and interesting uses of buckyballs (though some are totally false, so be careful! See Understanding ). In this brief review though we will move onto the carbon nanotube as there have been actual products developed from this fullerene. That's not to say that buckyballs will never have products produced from them, there time just hasn't come yet.

Carbon Nanotubes

Carbon nanotubes were first observed in 1991 and produced in 1992. Because of this discovery interest in buckyball technology shifted to these nanotubes. Carbon nanotubes are like an individual layer of graphite (which is now called graphene) that is wrapped around to meet end to end. An outline of facts about carbon nanotubes:

• Extremely strong
• Known as buckytubes at one time
• Science in making the sabers but serendipity that CNTs were involved (just like bread making, etc.)
• Modern techniques make better sabers, but at the time they were the best (and their legend lives on)
• Varying diameters from 1 nm to 100 nm and can in theory be as long as you desire, but in practice not so long (yet)
• Good conductor of electricity
• Or can be a semiconductor
• Called (carbon) nanowires when discussing electrical properties (note: this is not the only type of nanowire)
• Single-walled (SWCNT or SWNT) and multi-walled (MWCNT or MWNT)
• Buckypaper offers many possible applications, but still is in its infancy
• GSFC/NASA continues their groundbreaking work on carbon nanotube technology
• CNT has been tested for such diverse ideas such as water filtration, supercapacitors, heat shields, etc.

A great way to look at nanotubes is to get a piece of chicken wire (plastic preferably) and cut out a rectangle (at this point you have graphene) and wrap it around (nanotube). You can do this at home which is way better then a flat screen simulation and definitely inexpensive.

Different wraps of graphene can produce different properties for carbon nanotubes. That is, depending on how you wrap the nanotube you can have metallic nanotubes or semiconductor nanotubes (or at this point you might want to call it a nanowire). Note that the ends of the wrap which normally don't have a cap in our representations represents the end of the nanotube itself.

There are two other possible wraps for the carbon nanotube and that is the chiral wraps. Chiral CNTs are stereoisomers and are mostly semiconductors.

For carbon nanotubes we can define a coordinate system that has unit vectors that help us describe the armchair, zig-zag, and chiral nanotubes.

Using the unit vectors (\(\vec{e_1}\) and \(\vec{e_2}\)) defined in the figure above we can write an equation that describes the various nanotubes as \(m \vec{e_1} + n \vec{e_2}\) where m and n are integers and \(m+n \ge 2\). Given this equation if m or n equal zero then we have a zig-zag CNT (semiconductor), if m=n we have an armchair CNT (metallic), and otherwise it is chiral CNT. In general chiral CNTs are semiconductors but if \(\lvert (m-n)\rvert \) is a multiple of 3 then it is metallic 4 .

Fullerene research is just at its infancy and there will be more to discover which will include its share of disappointments, but that is science.

So what about that sheet of graphite we discussed above? A single sheet of graphite is called graphene. Through studies of the laminar nature of graphite oxide starting as early as the 1860s where chemist Benjamin Brodie produced thin layers of the crystal which he studied and was able to get atomic weight of graphite. Studies on this structure continued with every thinner layers which had high strength and noteworthy optical properties. In 1947, physicist's P. R. Wallace produced a theoretical framework for graphene in order to understand the electronic properties of graphite. Work continued on thin layers of graphite both experimentally and theoretically with some work possibly being on graphene (there would be no way to distinguish between one and a few layers of graphite). In 1961 chemist Hanns-Peter Boehm reported on very thin layers of graphite flacks and called a single layer of graphite, "graphene." The term would be revived in the late 1990s when disscussing carbon nanotubes. Finally in 2004, physicists' Andre Geim and Konstantin Novoselov isolated and characterized free-standing graphene. And this is when things got interesting...

In the following outline we will list some properties of graphene that can possibly lead to exciting new products or are just very interesting scientifically:

• Single atom thickness (carbon)
• Normally a semiconductor has a greater than zero band gap and it is metals you would expect to have no band gap
• That is the graphene actual absorbs light (over 2%)
• This feature mean you can actual "see" graphene in certain conditions
• Graphene's strong interaction with photons maybe useable for nanophotonics
• Graphene is theoretically an excellent material for spintronics due to carbon coupling and long spin lifetimes (theory)
• Lightest strongest material with large tensile strength
• Small spring constant (flexible)
• Very robust
• But it has a impressive ability to distribute the force of an impact
• This allows it to bend like metals
• Graphene has high surface area to mass ratio (almost goes without saying) which could make it good for supercapacitors (instead of the currently favored idea of activated carbon)
• Can by used for energy storage, filtration, and other applications

That was just a few of the interesting properties of graphene. But this is not the last word on nanotechology as up and coming new technology includes the hexogonal Boron Nitrite (h-BN) that has just as many interesting properties as graphene. And we can go even further with combining fullerenes, graphene, and h-BN. Already combining graphene with CNTs has produced interesting research avenues as well as graphene with bismuth nanowires and graphene with h-BN (hexagonal Boron Nitrite).

So let us move on to discussing nanotechnology in more general way to give just a brief overview.

Nanotechnology by discipline

Nanotechnology spans multiple engineering disciplines which we will list briefly below. For electrical engineering the processes of making integrated circuits (ICs) has been in the nanotechnology range for decades, but new techniques are possible with nanotechnology elements.

• Bionanosensors
• Utilizing natures nanotechnology (like mRNA for vaccines, etc.)
• Nanofoods (nano-manipulation of food to improve taste, texture, etc.)
• Nanopackaging (using nanomaterials to improve packaging)
• Nanomembranes (for filtering)
• Nanocatalysts (for water remediation)
• Nanocoating (including CNT coating)
• Nanosurface protection (including uses of CNT mechanical properties)
• Quantum dots
• Lithography (been at nano-level for a long time)
• DNA nanoarray
• Nanowires or nanosemiconductors
• Nano-optics

The outline above is just a taste of nanotechology and how it effects a number of engineering disciplines.

There are three different areas of research in nanotechnology which usually are the domain of different disciplines.

• Liquid environment
• Usually biological
• Filters (CNT) and example of cross-over technology
• Silicon and other inorganic materials
• Metals, semiconductors
• Too reactive so they can't operate in wet conditions
• This should be in addition to actual experimentation and prototyping
• While this is important and could produce some excellent product or insight, it still has to be verified experimentally
• So don't get excited until the process is complete
• This is required to fully understand nanotechnology

What is so exciting about Nanotechnology?

The physical rules of the "macro" world are relevant all they way down to the microscopic level, but things change when you pass into the nano realm. Surface effects, chemical effects, optical effects, and physical effects are different in the nanoscale when compared to the macro or micro scale.

• Stain resistant clothes
• Sweat absorbing clothes
• Antimicrobial socks
• New exciting discoveries await
• However, disappointments await as well
• This is the nature of research
• Is some money going to be wasted? Yes that is the nature of searching for things. "Failure" is an integral part of engineering and science. We want success but we want to progress as well and that means some failures
• Can we predict where our money should go? Yes and no. Simulations can give us clues, but it is not a perfect solution
• Should we only do research that is proven out by a simulation? No, but we should not ignore the contribution of simulation

Understanding the different effects at the nanolevel requires an understanding of physics. For engineers and scientists this is why physics is essential. Some ideas require a graduate level physics background, but even with a calculus-based physics understanding the ideas behind nanotechnology become clearer. Simulations are going to require graduate school level education.

• Scaling laws
• Transport phenomena
• Hartree-Fock (computational physics - approximation method for wave functions)
• Hydrophobic and hydrophilic
• Diffusion, transport in all dimensions

Practical ways to do Nanotechnology

How do you go about making something in nanotechnology? There are two methods

• Building nanotechnology using larger elements
• Primary method in manufacturing at present
• No atomic-level control
• ​​​​​​State of photolithography for a couple of decade
• Laser is a larger element producing smaller nano-element
• Build from molecular components
• Static self-assembly utilizes nature to reach minimum free energy
• Dynamic self-assembly requires energy to force a solution
• That is components assemble themselves based off of a code
• What in nature might be used as a model for this?
• What are some problematic issues with using this method?

The answer to our coding is DNA which we discussed at the start of this chapter.

DNA is a coding device that is used in nature, but some have proven it can be used by humans. DNA is nanometer in size. Let us view a TED Talk by Paul Rothemund explaining his creation of DNA faces.

Note that the method described here is not the only method people are researching. You can go to the Rothemund Lab web page (under research) to get links to other researchers in the field.

Nanotechnology Examples

Because nanotechnology is so vast and covers so many disciplines we have picked only a few examples as a way of introduction. There are many many many more applications and examples in the literature. We encourage you to read as many as you can. And maybe one of your essays can be on nanotechnology in your field!

Bismuth Nanowires

Bismuth in has been used in one form or another for thermocouples and thermopiles for more than a century. Bismuth is a semimetal even in nanowire form until about 50 nm when it transitions to a semiconductor form. Most research is done, however, with Bismuth nanowires in the semimetal form as it is difficult to produce good nanowires below 50 nm (though advances continue). Nanowires offer different properties that can aid in the thermocouple/thermopile are of research such as optical properties and reduction of thermal conductivity (bulk semimetal general dissipate energy to quickly due to higher thermal conductivity.

Nanotechnology and the environment

• Humans need clean consumable water for survival
• Environmental contaminates are a serious problem that reduces the amount of consumable water to unacceptable levels
• Ultrafiltration
• Added reactive component (iron oxide ceramic membranes) add an extra-level of removal of contaminates
• Aluminum oxide ceramic membranes are another membrane being investigated
• Iron oxidization causes certain organic molecules (including toxic ones) to break down
• Therefore nanoscale iron can improve remediation
• Smaller size allows the iron to go further into the soil (percolation)

Nanotechnology materials

• The grain size is an important characterization of metal (regardless if we are taking nanotechnology or not) that defines among other things the yield strength
• \(\sigma_y = \sigma_0 + \frac{k}{\sqrt{d}}\) where \(\sigma_y\) is the yield strength, \(\sigma_0\) and k are constants that depend on the particular metal, and d is the average grain size diameter
• The equation implies that smaller grain sizes give better yield strength
• Possible negative Hall-Petch effect below 30 nm
• Questions remain; studies needed
• Issues are worsening corrosion and creep as the grain size gets smaller
• Future shows promise however
• Ceramic nanoparticles
• Possible bone repair (see next example)

Nanotechnology and bones

A large portion of our bones are nanosize hydroxyapatite which could be repairable using bioactive and resorbable ceramics. The mechanism of this repair would be osteoinduction. This is a very promising research avenue.

Spintronics (or magnetoelectronics)

The idea behind spintronics is to develop electronics that uses the spin of the electron rather than the "movement" of the electrons. The promise of this technology is to make transistors smaller and faster.

• Technically spintronics is not nanotechnology, however, nanotechnology offers the best approach for its practical use
• By creating ferromagnetic semiconductors that require layers that are only a few nanometers (\(\leftarrow\) there you go)

Nanotechnology Machines

Can there be nanotechnology machines? No, not really, nanomachines are not very practical. But nanoparts for use by microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) is possible. For nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) we will outline some possible parts without getting into the details of how to control the motion (some sort of voltage will need to be applied).

• Use multi-walled nanotubes
• One tube rotates inside the other
• Kinds of emulates rotational bearings
• The nanomotor would be controlled by the use of a nanocrystal ram (sort of like a piston)
• Control by voltage in some fashion
• In general electronics this can be used as a clock or for blinking lights on a car
• This works using liquid metal droplets that exchange mass
• Utilizes surface tension (which in would be very strong at this scale)
• Graphene has relatively small spring constant and therefore is relatively flexible
• Graphene is very robust as well

Tools used in nanotechnology

A microscope is an optical device that uses light to magnify the object it is viewing, because visible light has a wavelength between 400 nm to 800 nm. Typically a "microscope" can at best see an object about twice the wavelength of light that is used. This means a normal optical microscope could at best see about 1 \(\mu m\) which is in its name...a micro scope. This would be cellular level. It is possible to infer some nanotechnology from a powerful microscope, but it would be better to use something else. Also there are UV microscopes, but still it would be better to use something else. So in this section we will go over the tools for nanotechnology.

• Focused beam of electrons
• Electrons' wavelength is much smaller than 1 nm (so this will work for nanotechnology)
• 5 to 10 nm resolution; some special SEMs can get down to just less than 1 nm
• Surface scanner
• Electrons penetrate the sample (typically less the 1 \(\mu m\))
• Magnets used to manipulate the electrons into the sample
• 0.2 nm resolution (but field of view is severely reduced in exchange for this better resolution)
• SEM, TEM with equipment like spectrometers
• 0.1 nm resolution
• While there are versions that can be used in a liquid environment, these Liquid-phase EMs have limited uses
• Need to prepare certain samples by sputtering metal (like gold) on them
• Sample is placed in a vacuum of at least 10 -4 torr
• New innovations allow for "desktop" Scanning electron microsopes
• Used electrical properties from tip to sample
• 0.01 nm depth resolution
• Uses force properties (this is how it distinguishes from STM) using a cantilever
• Detects the Van der Waals forces by oscillating very close to the surface
• Difficult mode to work because of its being close to the surface which induces troublesome forces
• Most common mode
• For soft surfaces
• There are many different type of probes (maybe 100 or so)
• Nanoscale Thermal Analysis probes for thermal maps of the sample
• Scanning Microwave Impedance Microscopy probe for scanning local electrical properties
• Magnetic probes for probing magnetic fields above the sample
• Scanning Capacitance Mode probes for getting a sense of carrier concentrations in semiconductors
• Deep Trench probe used for the integrated circuit industry
• Tip Enhanced Raman Spectroscopy probe
• Millimeters for Electron Microscopes
• Micrometers for Scanning Probe Microscopes
• Slow scan compared to SEM
• Unless you really want to get to the atomic level then you need high vacuum
• In the case of atomic level however we are not discussing nanotechnology any more though this could be of benefit to nanotechnology in the research sense
• Tapping mode is usually used here
• Usually use same sort of probes as with solid but designed for liquid (Silver Nitride)
• Probes for AFMs can be used to do nanomanipulation (nanolithography or nanobuilding)
• Nanomanpulators are available for SEMs as well
• Only two types will be outlined here, more are covered in materials class
• Spectroscopy is the study of how light interacts with materials
• Basic spectrometers that most people are familiar with determine elements in a system but other spectrometers determine much more
• Studying spectrometers could actual be a year-long course in itself, fortunately there are numerous web sites on spectroscopy for most types of spectrometers
• Determines type of crystal structure along with defects and any other structural information
• Some methods are non-destructive
• "Common" spectroscopy in general determines if you have say carbon or not but not what form of carbon
• Allotropes of carbon: buckyball, CNTs, graphite, diamond, graphene, glassy carbon, carbon nanobuds, etc.
• Basis of this spectroscopy is Stokes Raman scattering (as opposed to say Mie or Rayleigh scattering)
• This is covered more thoroughly in the materials science course
• New advances have been produced in the lab (real) because of simulation that were originally preformed based off new theories or ideas
• Theories are made into models which are then simulated
• Need models of measuring tools and the materials to understand interactions
• Theory: what do we know about the materials and tools
• Model: represent the theory in a testable fashion (equations; numerical analysis techniques)
• Use the model to predict some new results
• Laboratory test for the new results to confirm the model
• Re-work the model
• In rare instances look at the theory

Nanotechnology involves almost everything

• Nanoparticles (like quantum dots)
• Light and its interaction at a nanoscale
• Metamaterials (negative index of refraction among other "non-natural" properties) are the most promising here
• Nanomechanics
• Nanofluidics (study of fluids confined to a nanostructure)
• Nanobiotechnology

Additional websites to satiate your curiosity on nanotechnology

• https://www.nano.gov
• https://www.nature.com/nnano/ - Nature Magazine's Nanotechnology Journal
• https://www.ornl.gov/facility/cnms
• https://nanohub.org - this is for educators and researchers can be very high level
• https://nanocenter.umd.edu
• https://www.olympus-lifescience.com/en/microscope-resource/primer/java/electronmicroscopy/magnify1/ - simulation of an electron microscope
• https://www.renishaw.com/en/raman-spectroscopy--6150 - Renishaw's Raman Spectroscopy page (they have links to a lot of literature on Raman spectroscopy)
• http://mw.concord.org/modeler/ - Molecular Workbench: Simulator program for learning science in a realistic manner
• https://www.sciencenews.org - General science periodical but you can search for Nanotechnology and get interesting articles
• https://www.nanowerk.com - kinda like a warehouse of nanotechnology links (more for learning)
• https://www.graphene-info.com - kinda like a warehouse of graphene articles and links
• https://www.nationalgeographic.org/encyclopedia/nanotechnology/ - National Geographic article on Nanotechnology
• https://science.howstuffworks.com/nanotechnology.htm
• https://www.agilent.com/labs/features/2011_101_nano.html
• https://www.cdc.gov/niosh/programs/nano/default.html - CDC laboratory that investigates the safety of nanotechnology
• https://www.open-raman.org - open source Raman project so you can build your won Raman spectrometer (costs a bit, still)
• https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6982820/  - An article on this history of nanotechnology that might be of interest to some

This is just a sampling of nanotechnology, a more detail look at nanotechnology will be provide in materials science class. This is the last teacher-led case study; now it is the students turn - starting in the next section.

1 For a more modern version of the Powers of Ten you might want to look at the Cosmic Eye version:

Another interesting approach is the tool on AAAS' ScienceNetlink that gives more scales then just the power of 10 movie: Scale of Universe 2 . Still the original movie from 1977 is still amazingly good and has music from the famous American composer, Elmer Bernstein ( The Ten Commandments, Magnificent Seven ,...).

2 The tendency is to use grain size here but that actually means something else with regards to metallurgy so instead we will say nanoparticle size. Gold is obviously gold when we look at it, but a 30 nm nanoparticle size of gold is red. As you make larger and large nanoparticles it starts to change from red to a bluish-purple hue. The shape also can cause color change so rather than grinding it like you would in ancient times you would purposely make spheres or prismoids to get different colors (note that the sphere would be different color then prismoid if both were the same size).

3 The Platonic solids were described by Plato (or, maybe, Pythagoras) and consist of five solids: the cube, tetrahedron, octahedron, icosahedron, and dodecahedron. These solids are very interesting in the field of mathematics and crystallography (and by association materials science).

4 You can examine this more by using one of Scott Sinex's Material Sciences Excelets (in particular one named "Carbon Nanotube"). This, while designed for Excel, will run on LibreOffice's spreadsheet but does not work on MacOS Numbers.

5 The example list of probes herein is from Bruker , a company that sells scientific equipment, in particular AFM and STM probes ( Bruker probes division).

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• v.8(1); 2018 Jan

Nanotechnology: current uses and future applications in the food industry

Muthu thiruvengadam.

Department of Applied Bioscience, College of Life and Environmental Sciences, Konkuk University, Seoul, 143-701 Republic of Korea

Govindasamy Rajakumar

Ill-min chung.

Recent advances in nanoscience and nanotechnology intend new and innovative applications in the food industry. Nanotechnology exposed to be an efficient method in many fields, particularly the food industry and the area of functional foods. Though as is the circumstance with the growth of any novel food processing technology, food packaging material, or food ingredient, additional studies are needed to demonstrate the potential benefits of nanotechnologies and engineered nanomaterials designed for use in foods without adverse health effects. Nanoemulsions display numerous advantages over conventional emulsions due to the small droplets size they contain: high optical clarity, excellent physical constancy against gravitational partition and droplet accumulation, and improved bioavailability of encapsulated materials, which make them suitable for food applications. Nano-encapsulation is the most significant favorable technologies having the possibility to ensnare bioactive chemicals. This review highlights the applications of current nanotechnology research in food technology and agriculture, including nanoemulsion, nanocomposites, nanosensors, nano-encapsulation, food packaging, and propose future developments in the developing field of agrifood nanotechnology. Also, an overview of nanostructured materials, and their current applications and future perspectives in food science are also presented.

Introduction

Nanoscience and nanotechnology are innovative scientific advancements that have been introduced only in this century. Their utilizations in food and agriculture productions are almost modern compared with that of medicine delivery and pharmaceuticals. Nanotechnology has developed as the scientific advancement to grow and transform the entire agrifood area, with the potential to elevate global food production, furthermore to the nutritional value, quality, and safety of food (Sekhon 2014 ; Chung et al. 2017 ). Nanotechnology uses in food science are going to influence the most important aspects of food manufacturing from food protection to the molecular synthesis of new food products and ingredients (Pathakoti et al. 2017 ). Nanotechnology is expected to facilitate the following development stage of genetically altered crops, input to the production of animal and fisheries, chemical insecticides and precision farming methods. Precision farming is one of the most important techniques utilized for increasing crop productivity by monitoring environmental variables and applying the targeted action (Chen and Yada 2011 ). Food endures a variability of post-harvest- and processing-persuaded changes that affect its biological and biochemical maquillage. Thus, nanotechnology development in the areas of biochemistry and biology could also affect the food manufacturing (Sozer and Kokini 2009 ; Jain et al. 2016 ). There is a need to develop simpler, faster, more sensitive and low-cost approaches for the observation and quantification of impurities in foods. Within the past decade, with remarkable advances in nanoscience, nanotechnology-enabled sensors and systems have been increasingly used to develop rapid and noninvasive methods of detection of food contaminants.

Nanotechnological applications in food industry

Nanotechnology has been reported as the new industrial revolution, both developed, and developing countries are investing in this technology to secure a market share. At present, the USA leads with a 4-year, 3.7-billion USD investment through its National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI). The USA is followed by Japan and the European Union, which have both committed substantial funds (750 million and 1.2 billion, including individual country contributions, respectively, per year). Others such as India, South Korea, Iran, and Thailand are also catching up with a focus on applications specific to the economic growth and needs of their countries (Kour et al. 2015 ). Food processing approaches that involve nanomaterials include integration of nutraceuticals, gelation and viscosifying agents, nutrient propagation, mineral and vitamin fortification, and nano-encapsulation of flavors (Huang et al. 2010 ). Thus, systems with physical structures in the nanometer distance range could affect features from food safety to molecular synthesis. Nanotechnology may also have the potential to enhance food quality and safety. Many studies are assessing the ability of nanosensors to improve pathogen detection in food systems. Nanofoods are products that were grown processed or packaged with the aid of nanotechnology or materials produced with nanotechnology (Fig.  1 ). In this review, we discuss some current nanotechnology research in food technology and agriculture, including processing, packaging, nano-additives, cleaning, and sensors for the detection of contaminants, and propose future developments in the developing field of agrifood nanotechnology (Fig.  2 ).

Framework for integrating nanoresearch areas and the food supply chain

Different steps of food management that involve several steps (processing, packaging, and preservation) and these aided by nanotechnology with the assistance of several nanomaterials

Nano-delivery of food ingredient

Nanoemulsion.

The emulsion is two or more combination of liquids (oil/water system) that do not simply combine. The diameters of nanoemulsion to discrete droplets measure 500 nm or less. It can contain functional constituents within their droplets, which can ease a decrease in chemical degradation (Ravichandran 2010 ). The promising vicinity of nanotechnology within the food industry is the usage of nanoemulsions as carriers for lipophilic bioactive constituents, flavoring agents, antioxidants, preservatives, and drugs (Silva et al. 2012 ). An interest has been developing in the use of nanoemulsions within the food, beverage, and medicinal industries since they have some potential benefits over conventional emulsions for certain applications (Komaiko and McClements 2016 ). Nanoemulsions are kinetically uniform liquid-in-liquid dispersions with droplet sizes about 100 nm (Komaiko and McClements 2016 ). Nanoemulsion-based delivery system can also improve the bioavailability of the encapsulated components due to the small particle size and high surface-to-volume ratio (Sun et al. 2015 ). As a trendy advice, when used in the food manufacturing nanotechnology needs to be reasonable, easy to utilize, and with willingly perceived benefits in order to be a real another to the normal techniques. There are diverse challenges like limited food-grade stabilizers or other ingredients obtainable. The food industry would like to prepare nanoemulsions from legally acceptable, label-friendly, and economically viable ingredients. The most important is the toxicological concerns because the nanosize of the droplets that could alter the normal function of the gastrointestinal tract (Sugumar and Singh 2016 ). A fascinating food application of essential oils nanoemulsion has been observed in plums. Recently, lemongrass oil nanoemulsion was used to evaluate antimicrobial properties, physical, and chemical changes in plums (Kim et al. 2013 ). The nanoemulsion was able to inhibit E. coli and Salmonella population without altering essence, breakability, and smoothness of the product. It was also able to decrease ethylene production and retard alterations in lightness and concentration of phenolic compounds (Amaral and Bhargava 2015 ).

Nanoemulsions have some potential benefits over traditional emulsions for specific uses within food and beverage products. Nanoemulsions typically have a better consistency about particle accumulation and gravitational separation (Komaiko and McClements 2016 ). Nanoemulsions can be assembled through a variety of approaches, which can be classified as low-energy or high-energy methods depending on the inactive principle (Gupta et al. 2016 ). Various types of nanoemulsions with more complex properties, e.g., nanostructured multilayer emulsions or uncountable emulsions, produce various encapsulating skills from a single delivery system; this can promote the activity of the active components and facilitate their release in response to an activator. For example, Nestle and Unilever have developed a nanoemulsion-based ice cream with less content of fat (Singh 2015 ). Nano-encapsulation of food ingredients and additives had been carried out to provide protecting hurdles, taste and flavor masking, controlled release, and better dispensability for water-insoluble food ingredients and additives. There is a developing public concern regarding the toxicity and adverse effect of nanoparticles on human health and environment (Cushen et al. 2012 ).

Lipid-based nanoemulsions are better for the delivery of constituents within biological systems than traditional nanoemulsions. However, the high lipid content of these nanoemulsions results in adverse effects on the body, such as obesity and cardiovascular diseases (Pradhan et al. 2015 ). Some approaches for forming nanoemulsions using low-energy methods require the presence of cosolvents (e.g., polyols, such as propylene glycol, glycerol, and sorbitol) or cosurfactants (e.g., short and medium-chain alcohols) (McClements and Rao 2011 ). Nanoemulsions present numerous benefits such as cleansing of equipment and high clearness without compromising product presence and flavor (Fig.  3 ). Nano-sized functional molecules that are encapsulated by the self-assembled nanoemulsions are used for targeted delivery of lutein; β-carotene; lycopene; vitamins A, D, and E3; co-enzyme Q10; and omega-3-fatty acids (Choi et al. 2011 ). The use of nanoemulsions to food systems still poses challenges that need to be addressed both concerning the production process, particularly their price and of the characterization of both the resultant nanoemulsions and the food systems to which they will be applied to product safety and acceptance. Nanoemulsions exhibit numerous benefits over traditional emulsions because of their small droplet dimensions: high optical clearness, excellent physical constancy against gravitational partition and droplet accumulation, and improved bioavailability of encapsulated materials, which make them suitable for food applications (Oca-Avalos et al. 2017 ).

Nanofunctional food delivery systems

Nano-encapsulation

Nanotechnology can also facilitate encapsulation of drugs or other components for protection against environmental factors and can be used in the plan of food ingredients, e.g., flavors and antioxidants (Ravichandran 2010 ). Micro-encapsulation is used to increase bioavailability, control release kinetics, minimize drug side effects, and cover the bitter taste of medicinal substances in the pharmaceutical industry. In the food industry, nanoemulsions are used in the organized release of additives and the manufacturing of foods containing functional constituents, such as probiotics and bioactive ingredients (Kuang et al. 2010 ). Currently, numerous techniques of nano-encapsulation are progressively rising with their own merits and demerits. Techniques including emulsification, coacervation, inclusion complexation, nanoprecipitation, solvent evaporation, and supercritical fluid technique are enduring techniques for nano-encapsulation of food substances. Moreover, solvent evaporation and nanoprecipitation remain to be particular techniques for encapsulation of lipophilic bioactive compounds. However, all the encapsulation technologies, in the long run, depend on proper drying strategies to provide nanoencapsulates in powder form. Lee et al. ( 2017 ) conducted a study to improve the water solubility and antimicrobial activity of milk thistle silymarin by nano-encapsulation and to assess the functions of silymarin nanoparticle-containing film as an antimicrobial food-packaging agent. Further, the author stated that the incorporation of silymarin in WCS/-PGA nanoparticles could be an effective approach for improving the solubility and the antimicrobial activity of silymarin. Biodegradable films containing silymarin nanoparticles could efficiently control the growth of food microorganisms. Nano-encapsulation of valuable microorganisms, e.g., probiotics, is advantageous because targeted and site-specific delivery to the desired region of the gastrointestinal tract can be achieved. These nano-encapsulated designer bacterial preparations can be used in vaccine preparation and to enhance the immune response (Vidhyalakshmi et al. 2009 ). Additionally, nanoemulsions have been shown to improve the health benefits of curcumin (Wang et al. 2008 ). Most nanoencapsulates have shown excellent bioavailability, and few encapsulates have reported good inhibitory effect against certain targeted diseases. However, presently, the possible risks of nanomaterials to human fitness are unknown and need to be explored and studied (Ezhilarasi et al. 2013 ). Moreover, the regulatory issues on nanofoods are still being developed, and it is expected that national bodies will increase initiatives to control, administrate, and promote the proper development of nano-sized food-related products.

Packaging of food items

Nanocomposites.

Nanocomposites are mostly exploited in the area of food packaging, as they are eco-friendly and biodegradable. Nanocomposites exhibit extremely multipurpose chemical functionality and are therefore used for the growth of high obstacle properties (Pandey et al. 2013 ). A nanocomposite-based commercialized fertilizer, Guard IN Fresh, helps fruits and vegetables to ripen by scavenging ethylene gas (Gupta and Moulik 2008 ). Nanoclays are made of aluminum silicates, commonly mentioned to as phyllosilicates, and are low-cost, constant, and eco-friendly (Davis et al. 2013 ). The nanocomposite is a multiphase material resulted from the combination of two or more constituents, containing a continuous phase (matrix) and a discontinuous nano-dimensional phase with at least one nano-sized dimension (with less than 100 nm). The development of bio-nanocomposite materials for food packaging is significant not only to reduce the environmental problem, but also to improve the functions of the food packaging materials (Othman 2014 ). Moreover, nanoparticles could impart as their active or intelligent properties to food packaging so that they can preserve the food against external factors and increase the food’s stability through antimicrobial properties and/or responding to environmental changes. In spite of several advantages of nanomaterials, their use in food packaging may cause safety problems to human health since they exhibit different physicochemical properties from their macro-scale chemical counterparts (Hanarvar 2016 ). The usage of nanocomposites for food packaging defends not only food, but also develops the shelf-life of food products and overcomes environmental problems associated with the use of plastics. Most packaging materials are not degradable, and popular biodegradable films have a poor barrier and mechanical properties; therefore, these properties must be significantly improved before these films can replace conventional plastics and help to manage universal waste problems (Sorrentino et al. 2007 ).

Shankar and Rhim ( 2016 ) produced nanocomposite films including PBAT (polybutylene adipate-co-terephthalate) and silver nanoparticles. The maximum plasmonic absorption of silver nanoparticles was detected at 435 nm. Moreover, the dramatic increase in tensile strength and water vapor permeability of the film was attributed to the presence of silver nanoparticles. Altogether, the formulated nanocomposite presented important features to be applied in packaging materials due to their UV-screening and biocidal activities. In addition to the abovementioned benefits, nanomaterials have also been developed continuously to enhance the physical and mechanical properties of packaging in terms of tensile strength, rigidity, gas permeability, water resistance and flame resistance. Aimed at providing those properties above, polymer nanocomposites are the latest materials with an enormous potential for use in the active food packaging industry (Youssef 2013 ). Better use of polymer–nanocomposite in the industry in Europe is going very slowly. The main reasons are the cost price of materials and processing, restrictions due to legislation, acceptance by customers in the market, lack of knowledge about the effectiveness and influence of nanoparticles on the ecological and on human health. The potential risk due to the migration of nanoparticles in food, and balance between the use of biomass for the production of foods (Bratovčić et al. 2015 ). Polymer nanocomposite-based food packaging material with antimicrobial properties is particularly useful due to the high surface-to-volume ratio of nanofillers. In addition, this property increases the surface reactivity of the nano-sized antimicrobial agents compared to the bulk counterpart, making them able to kill microorganisms. The performance properties, for example, mechanical, barrier, thermal, optical, biodegradation, and antimicrobial properties are found in polymer nanocomposites for the packaging applications (Fig.  3 ).

Nanosensors

Nanosensors in conjunction with polymers are used to screen food pathogens and chemicals during storage and transit processes in smart packaging. Additionally, smart packaging confirms the integrity of the food package and authenticity of the food product (Pathakoti et al. 2017 ). Nano-gas sensors, nano-smart dust can be used to detect environmental pollution (Biswal et al. 2012 ). These sensors are composed of compact wireless sensors and transponders. Nanobarcodes are also an efficient mechanism for detection of the quality of agricultural fields (Sonkaria et al. 2012 ). An electrochemical glucose biosensor was nanofabricated by layer-by-layer self-assembly of polyelectrolyte for detection and quantification of glucose (Rivas et al. 2006 ). Nanosensors can detect environmental changes, for example, temperature, humidity, and gas composition, as well as metabolites from microbial growth and byproducts from food degradation (Fig.  4 ). The types of nanosensors used for this purpose include array biosensors, carbon nanotube-based sensors, electronic tongue or nose, microfluidic devices, and nanoelectromechanical systems technology (Sozer and Kokini 2009 ). Polymer nanocomposites from carbon black and polyaniline to detect and identify foodborne pathogens ( Bacillus cereus , Vibrio parahaemolyticus , and Salmonella spp.) based on the specific response patterns for each microorganism, as triggered by different vapors produced during their metabolism (Arshak et al. 2007 ). A liposome-containing nanosensor based on microfluidics showed that the main benefit of microfluidic sensors is their simple arrangement and their capability to identify constituents of interest fast in only microliters (µL) of sample volume (Sozer and Kokini 2009 ). The combination of nanosensors into food packaging has shown in various benefits than traditional sensors for example speed of analysis, enhanced sensitivity, specificity and multiplex systems (sample throughput), reduced cost and assay complexity (Singh et al. 2017 ). The sensors based on nanomaterials (nanosensor), both chemical sensors (chemical nanosensors) and biosensors (nanobiosensors), can be used online and combined into existing industrial process and distribution line or off-line as speedy, simple, and transportable, as well as disposable, sensors for food contaminants (Kuswandi 2017 ).

Different types of nanosensors and examples of their use in the food sector

Nanosensors can also be used to determine the qualities of various foods, including wine, coffee, juice, and milk. The sensors are designed using layer-by-layer macromolecule ultra-thin films that show increases in surface area and 10,000-fold higher sensitivity than the human tongue. Nanosensors can further be fixed to packaging to identify microorganisms contaminating food. The packaged food product does not need to be directed to the laboratory for sampling; instead, the sensors indicate the food quality and can be directly interpreted by consumers based on color changes. Sensors that are typically used sensors in food packaging are gas detectors and time–temperature indicators, including array biosensors, nanoparticles in solution, nanoparticle-based sensors, nano-test strips, electronic noses, and nanocantilevers (Tang et al. 2009 ). The use of nanoparticles to develop nanosensors for detection of food contaminant and pathogens in the food method is another possible use of nanotechnology. Indeed, tailor-made nanosensors for food analysis, flavors or colors, drinking water and clinical diagnostics have been developed (Li and Sheng 2014 ). Nanosensors have also been applied for detection of organophosphates in plants, fruits, and water. Owing to the high water solubility, toxicity, and extensive use of pesticides in agriculture, there is an urgent requirement for highly sensitive and selective analytical systems for residue analysis of these pollutants (Valdés et al. 2009 ). Advances in nanosensor technology were discussed in a recent review highlighting magnetic immune sensors based on biomolecules connected with gold nanoparticles with a broad range of uses in food (Vidotti et al. 2011 ). An SPR-based biosensor was applied for fast identification of Campylobacter jejuni in samples of broiler chickens, and the specificity and sensitivity of distribution antibodies against C. jejuni were tested with Campylobacter and non- Campylobacter bacterial strains. Nanosensors and nano-based smart delivery methods are the uses of nanotechnology that are presently working in the agricultural production to help with fighting viruses and other crop pathogens, as well as to boost the effectiveness of agrochemicals at lower amount proportions (Mousavi and Rezaei 2011 ). Jebel and Almasi ( 2016 ) analyzed the antibacterial effect of ZnO nanoparticles embedded in cellulose films (impacts on E. coli and S. aureus ). They also applied ultrasound treatment to the bacteria and observed remarkable antibacterial performance.

Zhao et al. ( 2011 ) created a rapid, sensitive DNA strip sensor based on gold nanoparticle-labeled oligonucleotide probes to detect Acidovorax avenae subsp. citrulli . Both qualitative and semiquantitative findings of the target DNA were obtained; the qualitative limit of detection of the strip sensor was 4 nM. Oxonica Inc. (USA) developed nanobarcodes for use with dessert items or pellets to be delivered using an altered microscope for anti-counterfeiting determinations. The additional trend in the use of nano-packaging is nano-biodegradable packaging. The usage of nanomaterials to develop bioplastics may allow bioplastics to be used as a replacement for fossil fuel-based plastics for food packaging and carry bags. These devices have been receiving growing attention because the need for detecting and measuring at the molecular, physical and chemical properties of toxins, pollutants, and analytes in general (Table  1 ) (Guo et al. 2015 ; Martínez-Bueno et al. 2017 ). Li and Sheng ( 2014 ) reported the applications of gold nanoparticles and CNTs in food contamination detection. Potential research focus has also been suggested. Nanosensors developed based on the molecularly imprinted polymer technology include those used for the detection of trypsin, glucose, catechol, and ascorbic acid (Pathakoti et al. 2017 ). For human health, nanotechnology has tremendous interest in food detection and will be receiving more and more attention shortly. The food industry is eager to benefit from its revolutionary discovery as much as possible. The purpose of research and development of nanotechnology is to realize the efficient control of the microscopic world. Taking advantage of nanotechnology, researchers are beginning to realize the promising future in the field of biological sensors in food detection.

Table 1

Application of microfluidics lab-on-a-chip devices in the detection of mycotoxins

Food packaging

The biodegradability of a packaging material can be augmented by integrating inorganic elements, for example, mud, into the biopolymeric medium and can be measured with surfactants that are utilized for the alteration of the layered silicate. The use of inorganic elements also makes it possible for food packaging to have multiple functionalities, which could aid in the development of methods to deliver fragile micronutrients within edible capsules (Sorrentino et al. 2007 ). Food packaging is thought to be the main application of nanotechnology in the food industry. The adding of nanoparticles to shaped substances and films has been demonstrated to increase the properties of these materials, mainly durability, temperature resistance, flame resistance, barrier properties, optical properties, and recycling properties. Nano-packaging can also be designed to release enzymes, flavors, antimicrobials, antioxidants, and nutraceuticals to extend shelf-life (Cha and Chinnan 2004 ). Giannakas et al. ( 2016 ) have reported that addition of nanoclays is inducing the antimicrobial properties of PVOH/chitosan films and increases antimicrobial activity up to 44% for NaMMT and up to 53% for OrgMMT. Antimicrobial nanomaterials present an amount of current packaging concept planned to bring the vigorous nanoparticles that can be combined into a food package (Mihindukulasuriya and Lim 2014 ). Nanotechnology uses in the food manufacturing can be exploited to produce stronger tastes and color quality or detect bacteria in packaging, and safety by growing the obstacle properties and holds great potential to offer benefits not just within food products, but also around food products. In fact, nanotechnology introduces new chances for innovation in the food industry fast, but uncertainty and health concerns are also emergent (Sekhon 2014 ).

Benefits of nanomaterials in food packaging uses

Bioactive-packaging materials can aid the oxidation of foodstuffs and avoid the development of off-flavors and unwanted textures. Nonsustainable production, lack of recyclability, and insufficient mechanical and barrier properties are some of the ongoing challenges faced by the food and packaging industries. Although metal and glass are excellent barrier materials that can be used to inhibit undesirable mass transport in food packaging, plastics are still popular due to their lightweight, formability, cost effectiveness, and versatility. Indeed, the packaging industry accounts for more than 40% of all plastic usage, with half of this 40% used for food packaging (Rhim et al. 2013 ). Ravichandran ( 2010 ) revealed that the development of exciting novel nanotechnology products for food packaging, and some antimicrobial films had been introduced to increase the shelf-life of food and dairy products (Fig.  5 ). Moreover, food preservation and food packaging materials have become essential in the food industry. Food spoilage can be detected using nanosensors; thousands of nanoparticles fluoresce in several colors after coming into contact with food pathogens. In our studies of the significance of time in nourishment microbiology, the chief goal of nanosensors was to decrease the time for pathogen detection from days to hours or even minutes (Bhattacharya et al. 2007 ). Packaging prepared with nanosensors can also track either the internal or external circumstances of food products, vessels, and pellets. For example, Opel, which is used to make Opalfilm, containing 50-nm carbon black nanoparticles, was used as a biosensor that could change color in response to food spoilage.

Benefits and risks of nanotechnology applications in food and related products

Bioactive packaging resources necessity to be prepared to maintain bioactive chemicals, for example, probiotics, prebiotics, bioavailable flavonoids, and encapsulated vitamins, under optimal conditions, till they are released in a controlled method into the nourishment product (López-Rubio et al. 2006 ). Carbon nanotubes, which are mostly used as packaging for foods, constantly migrate into foods and can be used to control toxicity on the skin and lungs of human (Mills and Hazafy 2009 ). Lemes et al. ( 2008 ) prepared a nanocomposite with multiwalled carbon nanotubes and the biopolymer poly(3-hydroxybutyrate-co-3-hydroxyvalerate), enhancing its mechanical properties. Several microorganisms produce this polymer as reserve materials, and its use as packaging in food was approved in Europe. Reynolds ( 2007 ) demonstrated that approximately 400–500 nano-packaging products are commercially available, and nanotechnology is expected to be utilized in the manufacturing of 25% of all food packaging within the next generation. An ingestible nano-based track and trace technology was developed by pSiNutria, a division of the nanotechnology company pSivida. Possible pSiNutria products include products to identify pathogens in food for food tracing and preservation and temperature measurements in food storage (Alfadul and Elneshwy 2010 ). The FDA controls nanofoods, and the maximum allowable amounts of nanomaterials in food packaging and organic chemicals are monitored by the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the USA. Though neither the EPA nor the FDA has documented nanomaterials as novel chemicals or have required any new oversight of these materials-based products to engage in early and frequent consultation with the agency (Badgley and Perfecto 2007 ).

Application of nanotechnology in foods and bioactives

Archaeosomes are a type of microbial lipid membrane resistant to oxidation, chemical and enzymatic hydrolysis, low pH, high temperature, and the presence of bile salts due to the hostile living environment of Archaea microbes (Mozafari 2006 ). Canham ( 2007 ) found that the milk protein α-lactalbumin in certain conditions can undergo self-assembly to form tubular nanostructures. Such tubes are thousands of nanometers long, their diameter is 20 nm, and the inner cavity diameter is about 8 nm. These structures are formed in several stages. In the first stage, α-lactalbumin is partially hydrolyzed through the activity of a protease from Bacillus licheniformis . Also, along with other components, several derivatives with molecular masses varying from 10 to 14 kDa are formed. In the presence of calcium ions, this mixture self-assembles into helical tubes. Nanocochleates resulting from soy and calcium have been found to be suitable for the nano-encapsulation of vitamins, omega-3 fatty acids, and lycopene without affecting the organoleptic properties of foods (Joseph and Morrison 2006 ). Dairy products, beverages cereals, and bread are now supplemented with minerals, vitamins, bioactive peptides, probiotics, plant sterols, and antioxidants. Some of these active components are being added to foods as nanoparticles or particles of a few hundred nm in size (Shelke 2008 ). Gupta and Gupta ( 2005 ) demonstrated that nanometer-sized particles could be produced using food-grade biopolymers, e.g., polysaccharides or proteins, by inducing phase separation in mixed biopolymer systems, self-association, or aggregation. Nanoparticles are added to various foods to increase flow properties, color, and stability during processing, or shelf-life. For example, aluminosilicate materials are typically used as anticaking agents in powdered processed foods, whereas anatase titanium dioxide is a normal food whitener and brightener additive employed in sweets, some cheeses, and sauces (Ashwood et al. 2007 ). The applications explored here were particularly chosen because they are the most likely nanofood products to be accepted by consumers in the short term. Thus, food nanotechnology is still young, and the future of this exciting field is still largely uncertain. Regardless of how applications of nanotechnology in the food sector are ultimately marketed, governed, or perceived by the public, it seems clear that the manipulation of matter on the nanoscale will continue to yield exciting and unforeseen products.

Agriculture

Nanotechnology has used for alterations of the genetic structures of crop plants, thereby facilitating their improvement. Nanotechnology may offer in agronomic activities, with particular attention to critical features, challenging matters, and investigation needs for professional risk assessment and management in this developing field (Prasad et al. 2017 ). Nano-fertilizers (nano-coated fertilizers, nano-sized nutrients, or carbon-based nanomaterials or engineered metal-oxide), and nano-pesticides (inorganic nanomaterials or nano-formulations of conventional active ingredients), may provide a targeted/controlled release of agrochemicals, aimed to obtain their fullest biological effectiveness without over-dosage (Iavicoli et al. 2017 ). Smart delivery of foods, a fast specimen of biological and chemical impurity, bioseparation of proteins and nano-encapsulation of nutritional supplements are some of the new areas of nanotechnology for food and agriculture (Sozer and Kokini 2009 ). Reduced biosynthesis of chlorophyll by magnetic nanoparticles of Fe 3 O 4 induced a similar and statistically important decrease of chlorophyll and carotene levels of seedlings in sunflower (Ursache-Oprisan et al. 2011 ). The response of seedlings in Zea mays to the administration of the same range of Fe 3 O 4 NPs concentration caused by the decrease of chlorophyll while the seedlings of Cucurbita pepo showed a minor elevation of chlorophyll contents (Racuciu et al. 2009 ). Thiruvengadam et al. ( 2015 ) reported that silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) could regulate the expression of genes involved in the metabolic pathways of carotenoids, phenolics, and glucosinolate in turnips. However, in addition to plants, nanomaterials can also affect animals, such as Eisenia fetida (earthworms), which evade AgNP-improved soil (Shoults-Wilson et al. 2011 ).

Nano-sized calcium carbonate was prepared by reaction of sodium carbonate and calcium chloride by the reversed-phase microemulsion technique and then loaded with the pesticide validamycin. It exhibited excellent germicidal activity against Rhizoctonia solani than validamycin later 7 days, and the time of the release of validamycin was prolonged to 2 weeks. The loading efficiency, stability, sustained-release performance and excellent ecological compatibility of the substance, the system for its use may be prolonged to another hydrophilic pesticide (Qian et al. 2011 ). Guan and Hubacek ( 2010 ) encapsulated the imidacloprid with a coating of chitosan and sodium alginate via layer-by-layer self-assembly, increasing its growth rate in soil applications. Moreover, as a vehicle for active materials (pesticides, fertilizers, or plant growth regulators), nanoparticles can also be synthesized through catalytic oxidation–reduction. Subsequent use of these materials would decrease the quantity of these active constituents in the environment and reduce the time through which the environment is exposed to the effects of the nanomaterials. Using nanotechnology to create new formulations has revealed significant potential in enlightening the efficiency and security of pesticides. The improvement of nano-based pesticide formulation aims at the complete release of necessary and adequate amounts of their active constituents in responding to environmental triggers and biological demands through controlled release mechanisms (Zhao et al. 2017 ). The nanoparticle-mediated transformation has the potential for genetic changes of plants for further development. The use of nanotechnology in plant pathology goals exact agricultural difficulties in plant–pathogen interactions and bring new ways for crop protection. Nair et al. ( 2010 ) studied the delivery of nanoparticulate materials to plants and their eventual effects, which could deliver some perceptions for the safe use of this novel technology for the improvement of crops. Some potential applications of nanoscale science, engineering, and nanotechnology for agriculture, expressly designed to improve and to protect agronomic yields and crop production as well as to detect and remediate environmental pollutants, have been addressed with attention focused on emerging occupational risks in this field (Iavicoli et al. 2017 ).

Conclusions

In conclusion, nanotechnology has become progressively important in the food industry. Food innovation is observed as one of the sector areas in which nanotechnology will play a major part in the forthcoming. New and future innovation is nanotechnology that has exceptionally extraordinary property in food source chain (precision farming techniques, smart feed, enhancement of food texture and quality, bioavailability/nutrient values, packaging, labeling, crop production and use of agrochemicals such as nano-pesticides, nano-fertilizers, and nano-herbicides) round the world agricultural sector. Nanofood packaging resources may widen nourishment life, upgrade food safety, prepared customers that food is sullied or destroyed, repair tears in packaging, and uniform release added substances to grow the life of the food in the package. To maintain leadership in food and food-processing industry, one must work with nanotechnology and nanobio-info in the future. The future belongs to new products and new processes with the goal to customize and personalize the products. Improving the safety and quality of food will be the first step. Finally, nanotechnology enables to change the existing food systems and processing to ensure products safety, creating a healthy food culture, and enhancing the nutritional quality of food.

Acknowledgements

This paper was supported by the KU Research Professor Program of Konkuk University, Seoul, South Korea.

Compliance with ethical standards

Conflict of interest.

The authors have declared that there is no conflict of interest.

Contributor Information

Govindasamy Rajakumar, Email: rk.ca.kuknok@rdnivog .

Ill-Min Chung, Email: rk.ca.kuknok@micmi .

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• Published: 08 December 2022

Telling nanotech success stories

Nature Nanotechnology volume  17 ,  page 1229 ( 2022 ) Cite this article

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At Nature Nanotechnology , we want to bring stories of real-world impact of nanoscience research to the attention of the whole community.

It’s exciting when one’s research takes off and becomes a viable technology. It is sad that when this happens, our readers remain in the dark. As a journal craving to cater for the entire, interdisciplinary nanotechnology community, we believe our readers should feed from each other’s success stories.

This is why, as an experiment, in this issue we are publishing five short pieces that we have labelled After Publication stories . The idea is to highlight our authors and their past research. For the sake of this experiment, we simply chose papers in various areas published a few years ago that were highly cited, trying to understand why a particular paper did so well.

If the nanotech community likes these mini-stories, we would like this small space to morph into a showcase of real-world impactful research snippets. We believe that impact should not just be measured by number of citations, especially when it comes to applied research 1 . There are a number of ways where academic research can be impactful: from the point of view of the general public, one criterion has to do with improving lives and soothing suffering. Nanotechnology is not at a hype anymore; it’s already making real-world impact 2 . And although it takes time — a lot of time — for a technology to reach commercialization, whenever this happens, the whole nanotech community should rejoice and take inspiration.

We seek stories that bring the hard work done in labs (both in academia and in the industry) to external fruition, be it leading to viable mass-produced devices, solutions for professionals/businesses, or making a real difference towards a United Nation’s societal development goal (SDG). Especially exciting, we think, are stories of collaborations with local communities where a nanotech-based solution improves people’s lives in a tangible way.

For instance, in the field of energy storage, we learn that after reporting a laboratory-scale high-performing lithium metal battery prototype, researchers at the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory are looking into making their design scalable ( Nat. Nanothechnol . https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-022-01300-3 ; 2022). A similar scale-up challenge is being undertaken by researchers at the ETH, Zurich, following their early mechanistic observation of a C–C coupling reaction for the synthesis of high added-value chemicals from co-feeding with a CO/CO 2 mixture ( Nat. Nanothechnol . https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-022-01303-0 ; 2022). In both cases, the fundamental observations we published were informed by technological needs: to develop high-energy density batteries moving beyond lithium-ion; and the fact that in real-life it is extremely rare to work with pure feeds for CO 2 electroreduction processes.

Meanwhile, researchers at the start-up ReCode Therapeutics are performing preclinical trials of lipid nanoparticles for targeted gene delivery to the lungs for the treatment of primary ciliary dyskinesia, a debilitating genetic disease. This development follows up from a paper by researchers at the Texas Southwestern Medical Center in which they reported a methodology dubbed SORT, a short for Selective ORgan Targeting, to extend lipid nanoparticle targeting organs other than liver ( Nat. Nanothechnol . https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-022-01292-0 ; 2022).

Non-volatile memory devices, found in USB drives, flash card and solid-state drives are reliable and sturdy, but their programming speed is too slow for miniaturized on-chip applications, where volatile SRAM and DRAM are currently used. Realizing long retention times, typical of non-volatile memories, and ultrafast read/write speeds in one device, had been until recently seen as mutually exclusive requirements. In two back-to-back publications, groups based at Fudan and Beijing University showed that a device architecture featuring multilayer 2D materials with atomically sharp tunnelling junctions can achieve the programming speed of DRAM memories. Efforts have now turned into making fully-fledged integrated non-volatile memory devices on-chip ( Nat. Nanothechnol . https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-022-01299-7 ; 2022).

In another example of impactful nanotech research, scientists at the University of Basel are now working at improving the end-to-end efficiency of quantum dot single-photon sources to surpass the threshold of fault-tolerant quantum states, which could lead to scalable photonic quantum computation ( Nat. Nanothechnol . https://doi.org/10.1038/s41565-022-01295-x ; 2022). They got tantalizingly close in a paper we published in 2021.

Whether it is quantum computing, memory devices, batteries, catalysis, or nanomedicine, the huge investment of public and private money in nanoscience and nanotechnology will inevitably result in technological breakthroughs that are going to impact our lives. We are thrilled when we have the privilege to publish the initial idea in the form of an academic paper, but we would be also thrilled to keep in touch, years down the line, to learn how fundamental discoveries or lab-scale devices are making an in-road into commercial products, translation into the clinic, tackling SDG-related challenges, or improving lives of local communities.

Nat. Nanotechnol . 13 , 525 (2018).

Nanoscience and nanotechnology. Nature https://www.nature.com/collections/fhheahdgaa (2022).

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Nanotechnology and Oncology: Workshop Summary (2011)

Chapter: 4 risks associated with nanotechnology, 4 risks associated with nanotechnology.

Several participants noted that nanoparticles are commonly observed; these particles have both natural and human origins. “There are lots of nanoparticulates that we are exposed to every day. I am always amazed, when we think about these engineered nanoparticles as being such unusual beasts, because they are really not all that unusual,” Dr. Barker said.

Nonetheless, speakers noted that nanomaterials do pose several types of potential health risks, including short-term and long-term risks to the health of those taking nanomedicines, risks to the workers making nanomedicines, and contamination risks to the environment at large. “If you are looking at the challenges to nanotechnology, I think they are going to be about safety, and the agencies of the government need to get together and work this out,” Dr. Barker said.

DATA COLLECTION: BIODISTRIBUTION AND TOXICOLOGY

Dr. Ferrari and others listed several biological barriers that nanomedicines might have to surmount in order to reach their targets. These barriers include the reticuloendothelial system (RES) of the immune system, the kidneys, the liver, blood vessel walls, the tumor cell membrane, the cytosol or the nuclear membrane of a tumor cell, ionic and molecular pumps within tumor cells, and enzymatic degradation. In addition, nanomedicines might have to overcome the additional barrier posed by pressure that builds in tumors because of their leaky blood vessels, which

large molecules can penetrate. These molecules accumulate and draw in fluid, building pressure in tumor cells that impedes the entry of even small molecules, Dr. Li pointed out (see Figure 7 ).

The properties of nanomaterials make it difficult to predict how they will penetrate these various biological barriers or be metabolized, which in turn makes it difficult to assess their biodistribution and toxicity, several speakers noted. In most cases, one cannot predict in vivo biodistribution based on nanostructure physical and chemical properties, such as size and charge, Dr. Li noted. He added that nanostructures can distribute to various organs as intact nanoparticles or they can be metabolized or split up into different pieces, which can enter the cells of various organs and reside in them for an unknown amount of time before moving to other organs or being excreted.

“One of the most difficult parts is tracking the multiple components in vivo over time. Some may stay for a long time, some may stay for a short time. You don’t even know whether they stay as one whole piece the whole time. If they stay in the liver, how long are they going to stay, and what problems are they going to cause in the future?” said Dr. Li.

Dr. McNeil added that “a huge issue that we’ve uncovered is stability of the particles. If a nanomaterial is unstable, obviously it will come apart, and in some cases we’ve seen that within a minute of introducing

FIGURE 7 Pharmacokinetics; ADME diagram. ADME stands for absorption, distribution, metabolism, and excretion: the four biological processes that are assessed when a therapeutic or other systemic or topical drug, device, or biologic is evaluated for toxicity. SOURCE: Li presentation (July 12, 2010).

it intravenously. Other particles are covalently bound and do not cleave, so the drug, even if it makes it to the tumor, will not come apart. It is not effective because the drug is not released and cannot interact with its target enzyme.”

Dr. Ruth Duncan, professor emerita of Cardiff University and visiting professor at the University of Greenwich, stressed that the pharmacokinetics (PK) are different for nanoparticles, given that they can enter cells, and that one needs to show microscopic distribution as well as macroscopic distribution. “It’s a different kind of paradigm from just using the old-fashioned cells that we were using for small molecules. The pharmacokinetics is totally different,” she said. “You need quantitative PK studies on the whole body as well as at the cellular level.” Dr. Li added, “macroscopic distribution doesn’t imply microscopic distribution. So even if you have macroscopic imaging, it doesn’t tell us enough of what is happening in vivo.” Dr. Gaspar stressed assessing both pharmacokinetics and pharmacodynamics when evaluating the biological effects of nanomedicines, and having translational models adapted to the specific questions that nanomaterials raise.

In addition, Dr. DeSimone cautioned that deformability is a characteristic that needs to be measured for nanomaterials. He described that deformability is commonly measured in biology: the age of a red blood cell can be estimated from its deformability and researchers have demonstrated that metastatic cancer cells are sometimes much more deformable than their non-cancerous counterparts (Suresh, 2007). In contrast to biological materials such as red blood cells or cancer cells, deformability has not been thoroughly explored as a characteristic impacting biodistribution and toxicity of nanomaterials. He described experiments in which his lab has begun to look into nanoparticle deformability; intravital microscopy—microscopic imaging done on live subjects in vivo—has resulted in a wealth of data. Results show that deformability can reduce both formation of aggregates in the lungs and uptake in the liver. In addition, Dr. DeSimone described how tuning nanoparticle deformability could help improve intracellular uptake of nanotherapeutics.

Reflecting Dr. Li’s statement that it is difficult to predict nanoparticle biodistribution and toxicity, Dr. DeSimone pointed out their experiences when testing the biological effects of PEG-based nanoparticles decorated with transferrin or antibodies to transferrin receptors (both proteins that bind transferring receptors); tranferrin receptors are overexpressed in some types of cancer. DeSimone and colleagues hypothesized that these nanoparticles could be loaded with anti-tumor drugs, the antibodies would target cells of interest, thus effecting preferential delivery of drug to tumor. However, when researchers tested the toxicity of the nanoparticles in the absence of any drug, it was found that the nanoparticles

themselves possessed the ability to induce cell death in certain types of cells (Wang et al., 2010).

Dr. Li pointed out that the route of exposure of nanomaterials will dictate, to some degree, the specific fate of them in the body. Nanomaterials applied via inhalation will have different biodistributions than those applied to the skin, taken orally, or taken intravenously. “If you inhale nanotubes versus inject them, you’ll have totally different biodistribution, toxicity profiles, and so on. Those considerations do not vary as much with small molecular agents,” Dr. Li said.

Further complicating biodistribution assessments is that the binding kinetics between nanomaterials and proteins are not well known, nor is it fully known how different components of nanostructures are metabolically processed and excreted. “All these special ADME [Absorption, Distribution, Metabolism, Excretion] considerations for nanomaterials that are quite distinct from those for small molecular drugs may hinder the development of nanomedicine, as this is just a partial list of the potential concerns that we have on different classes of different materials that we need to define before we get them into the clinic,” Dr. Li concluded, referring to the concerns shown in Figure 8 .

Some effort to fill in these knowledge gaps have been made, Dr. Zhao noted, especially in regards to toxicity assessments. Studies have documented to a limited degree such factors as the relationship of response to nanomaterial dose, degree of aggregation, size, or structure, and methods have been developed to quantify nanoparticles in vivo, he said. Dr. Zhao and his colleagues at the Chinese Academy of Sciences have published about 60 papers in nanotoxicology, as well as completed a 10-volume set of nanosafety books that was published in Chinese by a scientific press in Beijing. He noted that there also is a book on nanotoxicology that was published in English in the United States in 2007 (Zhao and Singh Nalwa, 2006).

Dr. McNeil added that characterizations of more than 200 nanomaterials at the Nanotechnology Characterization Laboratory, including 50 animal studies have revealed a few basic principles about nanomaterials and their effects in the body. These studies indicate that nanoparticles with high surface charge are cytotoxic regardless of particle type, and that uncoated nanoparticles will accumulate in the liver and spleen, and they are more likely to be digested by phagocytes, unlike those that are PEGylated.

“We found that some of our in vitro results, at least for optimization, do in fact mimic what we’re seeing in vivo,” Dr. McNeil said. “We can begin to predict, for example, what PEG length is best for a particular protein that’s used for a targeting agent, but I can’t look at a nanoparticle and tell you X amount will go to the liver and X amount to the spleen.

FIGURE 8 Special ADME considerations for nanomedicine. NOTE: ADME = absorption, distribution, metabolism, excretion. SOURCES: Li presentation (July 12, 2010) and Fischer and Chan (2007). Reprinted from Current Opinion in Biotechnology 18(6), H. C. Fischer and W. C. Chan, Nanotoxicity: The growing need for in vivo study , pp. 565–571, Copyright 2007, with permission from Elsevier.

We can’t provide that level of detail. All we can do is just point out trends at this point.”

Data at the National Characterization Laboratory show that surface charge, size, and hydrophobicity influence biocompatibility, he added. “We know that in our hands, every nanoparticle is unique. Just simply changing that particle—it’s surface charge or the length of the PEG—makes it almost a completely different entity, even if it’s still within the same class,” Dr. McNeil said.

Dr. Kulinowski noted that there are more than 4,000 papers in the International Council on Nanotechnology database relevant to nanosafety and nanotoxicology of medical or environmental nanomaterials. But little of this data is what she termed “regulator-ready” data. “The majority of the papers are hazard-related rather than exposure-related, and by far the majority of those are cell culture studies. So the relevance of those papers that say ‘nanoX kills 50 percent of the cells at this dose’ to a person taking a drug or using a consumer product is very low. While we might be able to appreciate that there’s a lot of work being done in this area, we’re not getting to that next stage yet where we can say what it means for decision making,” Dr. Kulinowski said.

The International Council on Nanotechnology conducted a workshop aimed at answering the question how long would it take to develop a model that would be able to predict nanomaterial behavior in biological systems and the environment. The outcome of that workshop was that it would take ten years to understand the dynamic nature of nanomaterials, Dr. Kulinowski reported. “We need to understand surface interactions much more than we do now, as well as a variety of other aspects in order to get to that goal of being able to look at the physical and chemical properties of a nanomaterial and be able to say, ‘well here’s how it’s going to interact in a cell, in a biological fluid, in a sand bed, river, etc.’”

So despite the emerging body of knowledge on nanotxoicity, often multiple studies are needed to characterize complex nanoparticles and show where they are likely to be distributed in the body when conducting clinical trials. Some of these studies are rather esoteric, Dr. Desai pointed out. For example, one might have to do x-ray diffraction to show the amorphous or crystalline characteristics of the nanoparticle, or electron microscopy, as well as other tests specific to the construct. “These can be complex constructs, where you have not just the drug, but you maybe have polymers, different targeting agents, and many other different components. It is very important to understand how all these interact,” Dr. Desai said.

Dr. Gaspar questioned the relevance of in vitro models and certain animal models when making biodistribution and toxicity assessments of nanomaterials, and stressed the need for in vivo studies.

OCCUPATIONAL SAFETY

“Occupational safety is a critical issue,” said Dr. Kulinowski. “No matter what we’re doing in nanotechnology, that has to be a consideration. Workers, whether they be researchers in the laboratory or production workers, are likely to be exposed to nanomaterials in higher quantities and for longer periods of time than consumers or even patients.”

Dr. Kulinowski noted that although there are numerous journal articles that touch on nanotechnology occupational safety issues, few address such practical questions as safe exposure levels for nanotechnology workers. “As a result, we don’t have any occupational exposure limit for nanoparticles,” Dr. Kulinowski said. She suggested translating the information the pharmaceutical industry has acquired on how to safely handle fine powders with high bioreactivity to workers handling nanomaterials. She also pointed out that the International Council on Nanotechnology recently established an open-source website for sharing information about occupational practices for the safe handling of nanomaterials that they call the “GoodNanoGuide.” Multiple stakeholders contribute, share, and discuss information on this site, which is modern, interactive, and up-to-date. 1 “We’re looking at tasks that might be performed in a manufacturing or research environment and saying ‘here are the potential human exposures, and here are the potential controls that you might want to use,’” Dr. Kulinowski explained.

She added that there have been discussions about establishing medical registries and medical surveillance programs to document health risks in those who work with nanomaterials. The National Institute of Occupational Safety and Health’s most recent statement about this is that it is premature to set up a medical surveillance program or registry of workers, according to Dr. Kulinowski, but she added that the agency continues to explore this possibility. She noted that it is difficult to identify the demographics of the nanomaterials worker because nanotechnology is used in such a wide range of fields, including the chemical industry and the pharmaceutical industry. “Getting a handle on who they are and what the tasks are is very difficult,” she said, let alone what types of measurements and medical tests would be made on these workers.

In his talk, Dr. Zhao stressed the need to distinguish nano-specific risks from other manufacturing risks. He gave an example of a paper which linked exposure to nanomaterials of workers to serious lung disease (Song et al., 2009). This article created a media sensation, with Nature publishing a news article with the headline “Nanoparticle safety in doubt,” and most Chinese newspapers reporting that the nanoparticles had killed workers.

______________

1 See http://GoodNanoGuide.org .

But the situation was more complex than how it was initially reported. The patients with lung disease were working in a workshop used to heat plaster, and the plaster contained some titanium oxide nanoparticles that were released in the plaster fumes and found in the patients’ lungs. The nanoparticles were contained within polyacrylate esters. A study in animals by Dr. Zhao and his colleagues suggested that the lung toxicity was not due to the nanoparticles, but rather due to the fumes produced by the heating of the polyacrylate esters. He called for more assessment technologies and procedures to investigate potential nanotoxicities.

NANOMEDICINE SAFETY

Dr. Curley noted that the long-term toxicities linked to nanoparticles used in medicine are not known, giving the example of carbon nanotubes. “Single-walled carbon nanotubes are fascinating from a physical– chemical point of view, but they are also incredibly rigid and stable structures, so are those going to be safe to deliver to a patient over the long term?” Dr. Curley asked. He said one study found that aerosolized carbon nanotubes were toxic when delivered to the lungs of rats—they developed something akin to the black lung disease seen in coal miners. When asked by Dr. Bahadrasain how to reassure the public that the safety of nanomedicines is not a problem, Dr. Curley responded, “We need to do the preclinical and clinical toxicology and toxicity studies that will demonstrate that to the best of our ability, there are no long term effects with the nanomaterials we are using.

Dr. Duncan noted that the safety issues linked to nanomaterials depend not only on the material, but how it is used. She pointed out that using nanomaterials in MRI imaging, in which patients are given a very low dose of the materials only once or twice, poses different risks than treating them with a nanomedicine for months or longer. “It’s really important, when people ask the safety question, that we relate it to a particular material and a particular use, route of administration, and dose,” Dr. Duncan stressed. Dr. Curley agreed, noting that “you may be able to use things like quantum dots in an in vitro diagnostic system that you would never give to a patient.” Dr. Sackner-Bernstein added, “It doesn’t mean that carbon nanotubes are not a potential application as medical devices. It just means you’ve got to make sure that the occupational health issues are taken care of, and that you’re not using them as an inhaled device or drug.”

Dr. Libutti pointed out that “there is a lot of fear in the unknown. One of the biggest challenges for us is to turn the unknown to the known so we don’t have a lot of unrealistic fears.” Both he and Dr. Barker noted that this fear of the unknown slowed down the application of recombi-

nant DNA technology because of the numerous restrictions on how the technology could be used initially, but eventually those restrictions were relaxed once its safety was shown. “Because of the natural fears that folks have and the predilection for watching sci-fi movies, we are going to need to go through that same evolution with nanotechnology,” he said.

Based on his experience with Abraxane and five other nanomedicines, Dr. Desai said the standard battery of toxicology studies are sufficient to establish safety. “Whether you are testing a small molecule or a biologic or a nano-type construct, the tests are adequate to define the toxicology. Through the formal toxicology studies which any of you do in the standard development of drugs, those studies are pretty thorough. You look histologically at every possible organ, do all the blood chemistries, so if there is any particular toxicity, whether it be nanoparticle-related or not, you should be able to find it. I know it has been talked about that nanoproducts may have a different toxicology profile, but I think that the published papers, and maybe the little bit of hype in the lay press, has probably been more as a result of occupational exposure in the heavy industry settings … as opposed to the pharmaceutical applications,” he said. But he stressed designing and conducting studies to understand the disposition of the nanomaterial in vivo. “You have to understand the biodistribution, the metabolism, the excretion, and how these components degrade over time. These are all very important for the long-term understanding of the toxicology,” Dr. Desai said.

But Dr. Curley pointed out that Dr. Desai’s experience is with nanomedicines that have pharmacologic or biologic agents, and may not be applicable to metallic or semiconducting nanoparticles that may be used in vivo. Dr. Desai responded, “It is not so much to do with the fact that the particles we make are albumin and conventional drug molecule versus magnetic nanoparticles or whatever, but that the way to look at toxicology typically has been to take a detailed look at all the possible tissues and other biofluids. What else could anybody suggest that you look at that may give you a better idea of some other toxicology profile that isn’t caught by these kinds of studies?”

Dr. Li then pointed out that the major problem in assessing long-term toxicity of nanoparticles is that many are not metabolized and excreted, unlike most other examples of nanomedicines that have been used clinically. He noted that many inhaled particles, such as carbon nanotubes, might lodge in the lung for the long term, but that potential hazard would not be discerned in a short-term toxicity study. He said, for example, that acute toxicity assessments of asbestos would not indicate that it would cause any problems, but it does cause long-term toxicity. “I don’t think the acute ADME toxicology studies that we directly deal with using small molecular drugs would screen for those long term side effects,” Dr. Li

said. Dr. Zhao pointed out that his study of the metabolism of nanomaterials has revealed that many bind to proteins in the body, which impedes their excretion and metabolism. “They can stay there in the body for a long time—for nine months or longer,” he said. Dr. Curley added “from an evolutionary point of view, we have not evolved mechanisms to metabolize, excrete, or otherwise modify fullerenes or solid gold nanoparticles, etc.”

Dr. Desai agreed that one needs to discern if the particles do not degrade, and if they do accumulate in a particular organ, it raises different questions that require different studies, “but those aren’t outside of the realm of what the FDA will ask you for anyway,” he said. Dr. Josephson added that “The key thing is to make sure that the nanoparticle is gone at the end of your toxicity study. If it is still there, the interpretation is that there was no toxicity seen, but the animal didn’t live long enough.” Taking a lesson from history, he pointed out that gadolinium chelate contrast agents were shown to be rapidly eliminated by the kidney, and thus were touted as safe as saline by their manufacturer. But those studies neglected to look at people whose kidneys did not completely eliminate the compounds. This caused a buildup of gadolinium in their kidneys which was linked to their developing nephrogenic systemic fibrosis. Avoiding this syndrome is possible by knowing the renal status of patients prior to injecting them with the contrast. “But it has heightened the issue of elimination in nanotechnology—where do things go, how long to they stay, and can they cause toxicity years and months after they have been given.”

Dr. Barker noted that the safety issues raised by nanomedicines are not any different than what has been raised by biologics, and the biggest toxicity issues have not been related to long residence times of the agent in the body, but rather how these biologics alter factors that cannot be measured. For example, leukokines have prolonged toxicity that occurs long after they are administered, she said, for complex reasons that are currently unknown.

Dr. Duncan stressed “It is up to us as innovators and members of the public to continue with the regulatory agencies to evolve the process of safety assessment of nanomedicines, depending on what we are making.” But Dr. Desai and others cautioned against being overly cautious about nanomedicines. “It’s important that we don’t create hurdles for ourselves that make it more difficult in the long run to bring innovative technologies to the patients,” he said. Dr. Libutti added “We shouldn’t set the bar so high that it is difficult to cross, especially with respect to cancer therapies, as we should be so lucky if the patients live long enough to see long-term toxicities from the therapies. We shouldn’t regulate ourselves out of coming up with innovative therapies, worrying about fantastic toxicities that may never come to be. Certainly for the development of nanotherapies

for benign conditions, that may be more of an issue.” He pointed out that if high toxicity standards were adhered to 50 years ago, there would not be a single standard chemotherapeutic on the market now.

But Dr. Libutti added that the metrics for toxicity in preclinical trials may not measure toxicities in patients who are going to live long enough to manifest them. “It is reassuring and makes you feel comfortable if you check those boxes off for your toxicity runs, because you are more likely to get your IND through. But they don’t pretend to encompass as yet unrealized toxicities that new agents may develop,” he said.

Dr. Heath pointed out that “every application that I know of in nanotherapeutics that has gone into the people, the net result has been to decrease toxicity. The headline should be that we have been able to engineer away toxicity to a great extent. That is something that should be celebrated in this field. We are lowering toxicity of drugs.” Illustrating the importance of lowering the toxicity of current cancer medicines, Dr. Curley gave an example of one of his patients, who was a violinist when he was diagnosed with colorectal cancer metastatic to the liver. Although he has survived eight years post treatment, he experienced such severe neurotoxicity from his chemotherapy that he is no longer able to play his instrument. “We need to look not only at the survival of our patients, but what is the quality of that survival and what are the long-term effects,” Dr. Curley said. Dr. Hawk added that lowering the toxicity of cancer prevention agents is the main goal for applying nanotechnology to the cancer prevention field. “Our biggest challenge is making compounds safer, so this should be a very exciting future.”

RISK–BENEFIT ASSESSMENTS

Dr. Gaspar suggested that when it comes to nanomedicines, risk– benefit management is the approach that needs to be taken rather than risk assessment. “Every medicinal product has a risk. If we start to make decisions based only on risk assessment, we’ll end up withdrawing the pipeline of medicinal products as a whole, and not only the nanomedicines in particular,” he said. Dr. Kulinowski added that there is some social science research that indicates that consumers are willing to take greater risks for greater benefits. “It’s not just about risk, it’s about risk– benefit. When the benefit is low, there’s a lower tolerance for risk,” she said. Dr. Hawk added that risk–benefit assessments will especially underlie the usefulness of cancer preventives in a healthy population.

Dr. Sackner-Bernstein noted that FDA takes a risk-based approach when assessing the safety of medicines and devices, with more scrutiny given to those products likely to pose the most risk, but that the agency also considers risk–benefit assessments of those products, including the

potential impact on the public and whether there are alternatives that exist already to the product being considered. “We try to make sure that when there’s a product that actually has impact, the barriers that it faces are commensurate with the potential impact,” he said.

Dr. Duncan stressed engaging the public in risk–benefit assessments of nanotechnologies. “The public decides whether the risk–benefit is acceptable. As scientists and regulators, we have a duty to our patients to tell them accurately what the risks and benefits of the technology are,” she said. Dr. Li agreed that it is important to engage the public in these assessments, but he expressed concern about the public’s ability to make the scientific distinctions needed to adequately assess the risks and benefits of nanomedicines. He suggested educating the public about what nanotoxicology means in the environment or in their food versus what it means in medicine. He said that public understanding of risk–benefit is important in order for regulatory agencies to effectively communicate their work.

One way scientists are working to overcome challenges in cancer treatment and improve cancer care is through nanotechnology. Nanotechnology, engineered materials that make use of the unique physical properties, presents a new array of medical prospects that will revolutionize cancer prevention, diagnosis, and treatment practices. Giving new hope to patients, practitioners, and researchers alike, nanotechnology has the potential to translate recent discoveries in cancer biology into clinical advances in oncology. While public investments in nanotechnology for cancer continue to increase, medical products based on nanotechnology are already on the market.

The National Cancer Policy forum held a workshop July 12-13, 2010, to explore challenges in the use of nanotechnology in oncology. Nanotechnology and Oncology evaluates the ongoing discussion on the role of nanotechnology in cancer as it relates to risk management, treatment, and regulatory policy. Assessments on nanomedicine and the physical properties of nanomaterials were presented during the workshop, along with an appraisal of the current status of research and development efforts.

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How Does Nanotechnology Impact the Environment?

While there may be benefits, long-term effects remain uncertain.

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Nanotechnology is a broad term for science and technological inventions that operate on the "nano" scale—one billion times smaller than a meter. One nanometer is about three atoms long. The laws of physics operate differently at the nano-scale, causing familiar materials to behave in unexpected ways. For example, aluminum is safely used to package soda and to cover food, but at the nano-scale it's explosive.

Today, nanotechnology is used in medicine, agriculture, and technology. In medicine, nano-sized particles are used to deliver drugs to specific parts of the human body for treatment. Agriculture uses nano-particles to modify the genome of plants to render them resistant to disease, among other improvements. But it is the field of technology that is perhaps doing the most to apply the different physical properties available at the nano-scale to create small, powerful inventions with a mix of potential consequences for the greater environment.

Environmental Pros and Cons of Nanotechnology

Many environmental areas have seen advancements in recent years due to nanotechnology—but the science isn't perfect yet.

Water Quality

Nanotechnology has the potential to provide solutions to poor water quality. With water scarcity only expected to increase in the coming decades, expanding the amount of clean water available around the world is essential.

Nano-sized materials like zinc oxide, titanium dioxide, and tungsten oxide can bind to harmful pollutants, making them inert. Already, nanotechnology capable of neutralizing hazardous materials is being used in wastewater treatment facilities around the world.

Nano-sized particles of molybdenum disulfide can be used to create membranes that remove salt from water with one-fifth the energy of conventional desalination methods. In the event of an oil spill, scientists have developed nano-fabrics capable of selectively absorbing oil. Together, these innovations have the potential to improve many of the world's heavily polluted waterways.

Air Quality

Nanotechnology can also be used to improve air quality, which continues to get worse around the world every year from the release of pollutants by industrial activities. However, the removal of tiny, hazardous particles from the air is technologically challenging. Nanoparticles are used to create precise sensors capable of detecting tiny, harmful pollutants in the air, like heavy metal ions and radioactive elements. One example of these sensors is single-walled nanotubes, or SWNTs. Unlike conventional sensors, which only function at extremely high temperatures, SWNTs can detect nitrogen dioxide and ammonia gases at room temperature. Other sensors can remove toxic gases from the area using nano-sized particles of gold or manganese oxide.

Greenhouse Gas Emissions

Various nanoparticles are being developed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. The addition of nanoparticles to fuel can improve fuel efficiency, reducing the rate of greenhouse gas production resulting from fossil fuel use. Other applications of nanotechnology are being developed to selectively capture carbon dioxide.

Nanomaterial Toxicity

While effective, nanomaterials have the potential to unintentionally form new toxic products. The extremely small size of nanomaterials makes it possible for them to pass through otherwise impenetrable barriers, allowing nanoparticles to end up in lymph, blood, and even bone marrow. Given the unique access nanoparticles have to cellular processes, applications of nanotechnology have the potential to cause widespread harm in the environment if sources of toxic nanomaterials are accidentally generated. Rigorous testing of nanoparticles is needed to ensure potential sources of toxicity are discovered before nanoparticles are used at large scales.

Regulation of Nanotechnology

Due to toxic nanomaterial findings, regulations were put in place to ensure nanotechnology research was carried out safely and efficiently.

Toxic Substances Control Act

The Toxic Substances Control Act , or TSCA, is the 1976 U.S. law that gives the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency the authority to require reporting, record keeping, testing, and restrictions to the use of chemical substances. For instance, under the TSCA, the EPA requires testing chemicals known to threaten human health, like lead and asbestos.

Nanomaterials are also regulated under the TSCA as "chemical substances". However, the EPA has only recently begun asserting its authority over nanotechnology. In 2017, the EPA required all companies that manufactured or processed nanomaterials between 2014 and 2017 to provide the EPA with information on the type and quantity of the nanotechnology used. Today, all new forms of nanotechnology must be submitted to the EPA for review before entering the marketplace. The EPA uses this information to assess the potential environmental effects of nanotechnology and to regulate the release of nanomaterials into the environment.

Canada-U.S. Regulatory Cooperation Council Nanotechnology Initiative

In 2011, the Canada-U.S. Regulatory Cooperative Council was established to help align the regulatory approach of the two countries in various areas, including nanotechnology. Through the RCC's Nanotechnology Initiative, the U.S. and Canada developed a nanotechnology work plan , which established ongoing regulatory coordination and information sharing between the two countries for nanotechnology. Part of the work plan includes sharing information on the environmental effects of nanotechnology, such as applications of nanotechnology known to benefit the environment and forms of nanotechnology found to have environmental consequences. The coordinated research and implementation of nanotechnology helps ensure nanotechnology is used safely.

" What Is Nano? " National Nanotechnology Coordinated Infrastructure .

Sur, Srija et al. " Recent Developments In Functionalized Polymer Nanoparticles For Efficient Drug Delivery System ".  Nano-Structures & Nano-Objects , vol 20, 2019, p. 100397.  Elsevier BV , doi:10.1016/j.nanoso.2019.100397

Demirer, Gozde S. et al. " Nanotechnology To Advance CRISPR–Cas Genetic Engineering Of Plants ".  Nature Nanotechnology , vol 16, no. 3, 2021, pp. 243-250.  Springer Science And Business Media LLC , doi:10.1038/s41565-021-00854-y

" 2021 State of Climate Services Water Report ". World Meteorological Organization .

Khalafi, Tariq et al. " Phycosynthesis And Enhanced Photocatalytic Activity Of Zinc Oxide Nanoparticles Toward Organosulfur Pollutants ".  Scientific Reports , vol 9, no. 1, 2019.  Springer Science And Business Media LLC. doi:10.1038/s41598-019-43368-3

Heiranian, Mohammad et al. " Water Desalination With A Single-Layer Mos2 Nanopore ".  Nature Communications , vol 6, no. 1, 2015.  Springer Science And Business Media LLC. doi:10.1038/ncomms9616

Shami, Zahed et al. " Structure–Property Relationships Of Nanosheeted 3D Hierarchical Roughness Mgal–Layered Double Hydroxide Branched To An Electrospun Porous Nanomembrane: A Superior Oil-Removing Nanofabric ".  ACS Applied Materials &Amp; Interfaces , vol 8, no. 42, 2016, pp. 28964-28973.  American Chemical Society (ACS). doi: 10.1021/acsami.6b07744

Shaddick, G. et al. " Half The World’S Population Are Exposed To Increasing Air Pollution ".  Npj Climate And Atmospheric Science , vol 3, no. 1, 2020.  Springer Science And Business Media LLC. doi:10.1038/s41612-020-0124-2

Panes-Ruiz, Luis Antonio et al. " Toward Highly Sensitive And Energy Efficient Ammonia Gas Detection With Modified Single-Walled Carbon Nanotubes At Room Temperature ".  ACS Sensors , vol 3, no. 1, 2017, pp. 79-86.  American Chemical Society (ACS). doi:10.1021/acssensors.7b00358

Ağbulut, Ümit, and Suat Sarıdemir. " A General View To Converting Fossil Fuels To Cleaner Energy Source By Adding Nanoparticles ".  International Journal Of Ambient Energy , vol 42, no. 13, 2019, pp. 1569-1574.  Informa UK Limited. doi:10.1080/01430750.2018.1563822

Guerra, Fernanda et al. " Nanotechnology For Environmental Remediation: Materials And Applications ".  Molecules , vol 23, no. 7, 2018, p. 1760.  MDPI AG. doi:10.3390/molecules23071760

Jain, Keerti et al. " Nanotechnology In Wastewater Management: A New Paradigm Towards Wastewater Treatment ".  Molecules , vol 26, no. 6, 2021, p. 1797.  MDPI AG. doi:10.3390/molecules26061797

Sukhanova, Alyona et al. " Dependence Of Nanoparticle Toxicity On Their Physical And Chemical Properties ".  Nanoscale Research Letters , vol 13, no. 1, 2018.  Springer Science And Business Media LLC. doi:10.1186/s11671-018-2457-x

" Control of Nanoscale Materials under the Toxic Substances Control Act ". United States Environmental Protection Agency .

" Chemical Substances When Manufactured or Processed as Nanoscale Materials: TSCA Reporting and Recordkeeping Requirements ". United States Environmental Protection Agency . 2017.

" Fact Sheet: Nanoscale Materials ". United States Environmental Protection Agency .

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500+ Words Essay on Nanotechnology in English: A New Revolution

All important topics related to the essay on Nanotechnology are discussed in this article such as the Introduction of Nanotechnology, What is Nanotechnology, the Classification and Impact of Nanotechnology, Nanotechnology development in India, and many more.

Man is always looking for new things to improve his life. Computer technology has changed our lifestyle today. Everything changed in business and healthcare.

With the advancement of chemistry and physics, scientists discovered a new field called nanotechnology. In 1974, Japanese professor Nario Taniguchi first used the term “nanotechnology”. This was followed by the introduction of other nanotech sectors according to demand and usage.

Essay on Nanotechnology in English

Nanotechnology is the study of extremely small structures. The prefix “nano” is a Greek word meaning “dwarf”. The word “Nano” refers to a very small or small size.

Nanotechnology is the technology of the future and it will help in the manufacturing revolution. A nanometer is one-billionth of a meter, perhaps the width of three or four atoms. A human hair is about 25000 nanometers wide. In such a situation, it can be estimated how small these machines will be. The development and progress of artificial intelligence and molecular technology have given rise to this new form of technology that is called Nanotechnology.

Nanotechnology is the engineering of small machines. This is done inside individual nano factories using the technologies and equipment being developed today to create advanced products.

What is Nanotechnology?

Nanotechnology is the science of manipulating materials, especially at the atomic or molecular scale, to manufacture microscopic devices like robots.

Nanotechnology, or nanotech for short, deals with matter at a level that most of us find difficult to imagine because it involves objects with dimensions of 100 billionths of a meter (1/ 800th of the thickness of a human hair) or less.

Classification of Nanotechnology

The term “nanotechnology” coined in 1974 is manipulation, observation, and measurement at a scale of less than 100nm (one nanometer is one-millionth of a millimeter. It offers unprecedented opportunities for progress – defeating poverty, starvation, and disease, opening up space, and expanding human capacities.

Impact of Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology is sometimes referred to as a general-purpose technology because, in its advanced form, it will have a significant impact on almost all industries and all sectors of society. Nanotechnology is the science, engineering, and technology that operates on the nanoscale, which is approximately 1 to 100 nanometers. Nanoscience and nanotechnology are the study and application of extremely small things and can be used in all other science fields, such as chemistry, biology, physics, materials science, and engineering.

It is also important to understand that nanoscale substances occur in nature. For example, hemoglobin, the oxygen-carrying protein found in red blood cells (RBC), is 5.5 nanometers in diameter. Naturally occurring nanomaterials are present all around us, such as in fire smoke, volcanic ash, and sea spray.

Nanotechnology Development in India

The Nanotechnology Initiative in India is a multi-agency effort. The major agencies taking major initiatives for capacity building are the Department of Science and Technology (DST) and the Department of Information Technology (DIT).

Other agencies that have shown major participation in the field of nanotechnology are the Department of Biotechnology (DBT), and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR). In addition, nanotechnology was initiated with the Nano Science and Technology Initiative (NSTI) in the 10th Five-Year Plan as a specialized area of research.

Some of the major initiatives in Nanotechnology are the launch of the Nano Mission and the introduction of PG programs in Nano Science and Technology. Nanotechnology intervention in a mission mode in the area of solar and hydro technology was also initiated.

Conclusion about Nanotechnology

Today’s scientists and engineers are exploring a variety of ways to intentionally fabricate materials at the nanoscale to take advantage of their advanced properties, such as higher strength, lighter weight, enhanced control of the light spectrum, and greater chemical reactivity, than their larger-scale counterparts.

We hope that after reading this article you must have got detailed information about how to write a long and short essay on Nanotechnology. I hope you like this article about Nanotechnology Essay in English.

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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ )

What is Nanoscience?

Answer: Nanoscience is the study of the properties and occurrence of materials with specific sizes in the range of 1–100 nm.

Answer: Nanotechnology is the technology that creates functional materials, devices, and systems through the control of matter on the nanometer length scale (1–100 nm) and exploits novel phenomena and properties (physical, chemical, and biological) at the nanometer scale or In a simple called atomic and at the molecular level.

How is nanotechnology used in everyday life?

Answer: Nanotechnology has an impact on almost all areas of food and agricultural systems, like food security, disease treatment delivery methods, new tools development for molecular and cellular biology, new materials for pathogen detection, and protection of the environment.

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Nanotechnology - A Brief Overview

Nanotechnology or nanotech in short is the technology that involves the manipulation of matter on atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scales. This includes particles of a scale of 1 to 100 nanometers.

As an emerging field of science and technology, it is important to have a basic understanding of nanotechnology and its applications. For the IAS exam , you should also be aware of Indian developments in this field.

Nanotechnology Origins

The concept behind this principle originated in a talk entitled, “There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom” by physicist Richard Feynman in 1959. The term nanotechnology was actually coined by Professor Norio Taniguchi. In 1981, the scanning tunneling microscope was invented which made it possible to “see” individual atoms. This and the invention of the atomic force microscope (AFM) made it possible for nanotechnology to become reality. Nanotechnology has come a long way since then and now affects many industries. It is an interdisciplinary field converging many streams of engineering and science.

What is Nanotechnology Used for?

Nanotechnology is used in various fields today. Some of the uses of nanotechnology are discussed below.

Electronics

• Nano-RAM: It is a non-volatile RAM (Random Access Memory) based on carbon nanotubes deposited on a chip-like substrate. Its small size permits very high-density memories.
• Nano optomechanical SRAM (Static RAM): This shows faster read/write time as compared to a MEMS memory. Also, the processes take place without interference which further reduces time when compared to a traditional electrical enabled SRAM.

Healthcare and Medicine

• Nanotech detectors for heart attack
• Nanochips to check plaque in arteries
• Nanocarriers for eye surgery, chemotherapy, etc.
• Diabetic pads for regulating blood sugar levels
• Nanoparticles for drug delivery to the brain – for therapeutic treatment of neurological disorders
• Nanosponges – are polymer nanoparticles coated with a red blood cell membrane, can be used for absorbing toxins and removing them from the bloodstream
• NanoFlares – used for detection of cancer cells in the bloodstream
• Nanopores – use in making DNA sequencing more efficient.

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• Solar paints or photovoltaic paints – can replace solar panels. Applying solar paints to any surface will enable it to capture energy from the sun and transform it into electricity. This can be used in houses and cars.
• Wind power generations – nanogenerators – these are flexible thin sheets which when bent can generate potential power.
• Nanobatteries – these are used to help rechargeable lithium-ion batteries last longer.

Agriculture and Food

• Nano fertilizers
• Hybrid polymers are used in packaging and to reduce spoilage
• Sensors for food-borne pathogens
• Nanoemulsions – to reduce bacteria on produce
• Nanoparticles based on titanium dioxide – used as antimicrobial agents

Nanotechnology in India

Research and work on nanotechnology in India started in 2001 with the formation of the NanoScience and Technology Initiative with initial funding of Rs. 60 crores. In 2007, the GOI launched a 5-year program called Nano Mission , it was allocated a budget of Rs 1,000 crores. It had a wider scope of objectives and much larger funding. Fields involved in the mission were: basic research in nanotechnology, infrastructure development, human resources development, and global collaboration. Many institutions and departments were roped in for the work such as the Department of IT, DRDO , Department of Biotechnology, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), etc. In both IIT Bombay and IISC Bangalore, National Centers for Nanofabrication and Nanoelectronics were established.

Results of these initiatives

• India has published over 23,000 papers in nanoscience.
• India ranked 3rd in papers published in 2018 behind only the USA and China.
• There have been many patent applications in this field.
• India spends only a fraction of the amount spent by countries such as the USA, China, Japan, etc. on nanotechnology.
• The quality of research is also to be improved significantly. Only a small percentage of the papers from India figures in the top 1% of publications.
• Only 0.2% of the patents filed in the US Patent Office are from India in this field.
• There are very few students who take up this field.
• The target number of PhDs in nanotechnology is 10000 per year by the Ministry of HRD.
• A team from IIT Madras used nanotechnology to decontaminate arsenic from water.
• A team from IIT Delhi has engineered a self-cleaning technology to be used in the textile industry.

Frequently Asked Questions about Nanotechnology

What is nanotechnology used for, what are the applications of nanotechnology.

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Health Effects of Vaping

At a glance.

Learn more about the health effects of vaping.

• No tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, are safe.
• Most e-cigarettes contain nicotine, which is highly addictive and is a health danger for pregnant people, developing fetuses, and youth. 1
• Aerosol from e-cigarettes can also contain harmful and potentially harmful substances. These include cancer-causing chemicals and tiny particles that can be inhaled deep into lungs. 1
• E-cigarettes should not be used by youth, young adults, or people who are pregnant. E-cigarettes may have the potential to benefit adults who smoke and are not pregnant if used as a complete substitute for all smoked tobacco products. 2 3 4
• Scientists still have a lot to learn about the short- and long-term health effects of using e-cigarettes.

Most e-cigarettes, or vapes, contain nicotine, which has known adverse health effects. 1

• Nicotine is highly addictive. 1
• Nicotine is toxic to developing fetuses and is a health danger for pregnant people. 1
• Acute nicotine exposure can be toxic. Children and adults have been poisoned by swallowing, breathing, or absorbing vaping liquid through their skin or eyes. More than 80% of calls to U.S. poison control centers for e-cigarettes are for children less than 5 years old. 5

Nicotine poses unique dangers to youth because their brains are still developing.

• Nicotine can harm brain development which continues until about age 25. 1
• Youth can start showing signs of nicotine addiction quickly, sometimes before the start of regular or daily use. 1
• Using nicotine during adolescence can harm the parts of the brain that control attention, learning, mood, and impulse control. 1
• Adolescents who use nicotine may be at increased risk for future addiction to other drugs. 1 6
• Youth who vape may also be more likely to smoke cigarettes in the future. 7 8 9 10 11 12

Other potential harms of e-cigarettes

E-cigarette aerosol can contain substances that can be harmful or potentially harmful to the body. These include: 1

• Nicotine, a highly addictive chemical that can harm adolescent brain development
• Cancer-causing chemicals
• Heavy metals such as nickel, tin, and lead
• Tiny particles that can be inhaled deep into the lungs
• Volatile organic compounds
• Flavorings such as diacetyl, a chemical linked to a serious lung disease. Some flavorings used in e-cigarettes may be safe to eat but not to inhale because the lungs process substances differently than the gut.

E-cigarette aerosol generally contains fewer harmful chemicals than the deadly mix of 7,000 chemicals in smoke from cigarettes. 7 13 14 However, this does not make e-cigarettes safe. Scientists are still learning about the immediate and long-term health effects of using e-cigarettes.

Dual use refers to the use of both e-cigarettes and regular cigarettes. Dual use is not an effective way to safeguard health. It may result in greater exposure to toxins and worse respiratory health outcomes than using either product alone. 2 3 4 15

Some people who use e-cigarettes have experienced seizures. Most reports to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA ) have involved youth or young adults. 16 17

E-cigarettes can cause unintended injuries. Defective e-cigarette batteries have caused fires and explosions, some of which have resulted in serious injuries. Most explosions happened when the batteries were being charged.

Anyone can report health or safety issues with tobacco products, including e-cigarettes, through the FDA Safety Reporting Portal .

Health effects of vaping for pregnant people

The use of any tobacco product, including e-cigarettes, is not safe during pregnancy. 1 14 Scientists are still learning about the health effects of vaping on pregnancy and pregnancy outcomes. Here's what we know now:

• Most e-cigarettes, or vapes, contain nicotine—the addictive substance in cigarettes, cigars, and other tobacco products. 18
• Nicotine is a health danger for pregnant people and is toxic to developing fetuses. 1 14
• Nicotine can damage a fetus's developing brain and lungs. 13
• E-cigarette use during pregnancy has been associated with low birth weight and pre-term birth. 19 20

Nicotine addiction and withdrawal

Nicotine is the main addictive substance in tobacco products, including e-cigarettes. With repeated use, a person's brain gets used to having nicotine. This can make them think they need nicotine just to feel okay. This is part of nicotine addiction.

Signs of nicotine addiction include craving nicotine, being unable to stop using it, and developing a tolerance (needing to use more to feel the same). Nicotine addiction can also affect relationships with family and friends and performance in school, at work, or other activities.

When someone addicted to nicotine stops using it, their body and brain have to adjust. This can result in temporary symptoms of nicotine withdrawal which may include:

• Feeling irritable, jumpy, restless, or anxious
• Feeling sad or down
• Having trouble sleeping
• Having a hard time concentrating
• Feeling hungry
• Craving nicotine

Withdrawal symptoms fade over time as the brain gets used to not having nicotine.

Nicotine addiction and mental health

Nicotine addiction can harm mental health and be a source of stress. 21 22 23 24 More research is needed to understand the connection between vaping and mental health, but studies show people who quit smoking cigarettes experience: 25

• Lower levels of anxiety, depression, and stress
• Improved positive mood and quality of life

Mental health is a growing concern among youth. 26 27 Youth vaping and cigarette use are associated with mental health symptoms such as depression. 22 28

The most common reason middle and high school students give for currently using e-cigarettes is, "I am feeling anxious, stressed, or depressed." 29 Nicotine addiction or withdrawal can contribute to these feelings or make them worse. Youth may use tobacco products to relieve their symptoms, which can lead to a cycle of nicotine addiction.

• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. E-Cigarette Use Among Youth and Young Adults: A Report of the Surgeon General . Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 2016. Accessed Feb 14, 2024.
• Goniewicz ML, Smith DM, Edwards KC, et al. Comparison of nicotine and toxicant exposure in users of electronic cigarettes and combustible cigarettes . JAMA Netw Open. 2018;1(8):e185937.
• Reddy KP, Schwamm E, Kalkhoran S, et al. Respiratory symptom incidence among people using electronic cigarettes, combustible tobacco, or both . Am J Respir Crit Care Med. 2021;204(2):231–234.
• Smith DM, Christensen C, van Bemmel D, et al. Exposure to nicotine and toxicants among dual users of tobacco cigarettes and e-cigarettes: Population Assessment of Tobacco and Health (PATH) Study, 2013-2014 . Nicotine Tob Res. 2021;23(5):790–797.
• Tashakkori NA, Rostron BL, Christensen CH, Cullen KA. Notes from the field: e-cigarette–associated cases reported to poison centers — United States, April 1, 2022–March 31, 2023 . MMWR Morb Mortal Wkly Rep. 2023;72:694–695.
• Yuan M, Cross SJ, Loughlin SE, Leslie FM. Nicotine and the adolescent brain . J Physiol. 2015;593(16):3397–3412.
• National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine. Public Health Consequences of E-Cigarettes . The National Academies Press; 2018.
• Barrington-Trimis JL, Kong G, Leventhal AM, et al. E-cigarette use and subsequent smoking frequency among adolescents . Pediatrics. 2018;142(6):e20180486.
• Barrington-Trimis JL, Urman R, Berhane K, et al. E-cigarettes and future cigarette use . Pediatrics. 2016;138(1):e20160379.
• Bunnell RE, Agaku IT, Arrazola RA, et al. Intentions to smoke cigarettes among never-smoking US middle and high school electronic cigarette users: National Youth Tobacco Survey, 2011-2013 . Nicotine Tob Res. 2015;17(2):228–235.
• Soneji S, Barrington-Trimis JL, Wills TA, et al. Association between initial use of e-cigarettes and subsequent cigarette smoking among adolescents and young adults: a systematic review and meta-analysis . JAMA Pediatr. 2017;171(8):788–797.
• Sun R, Méndez D, Warner KE. Association of electronic cigarette use by U.S. adolescents with subsequent persistent cigarette smoking . JAMA Netw Open. 2023;6(3):e234885.
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. How Tobacco Smoke Causes Disease: The Biology and Behavioral Basis for Smoking-Attributable Disease . Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 2010. Accessed Feb 13, 2024.
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The Health Consequences of Smoking: 50 Years of Progress. A Report of the Surgeon General . Centers for Disease Control and Prevention; 2014. Accessed Feb 12, 2024.
• Mukerjee R, Hirschtick JL, LZ Arciniega, et al. ENDS, cigarettes, and respiratory illness: longitudinal associations among U.S. youth . AJPM. Published online Dec 2023.
• Faulcon LM, Rudy S, Limpert J, Wang B, Murphy I. Adverse experience reports of seizures in youth and young adult electronic nicotine delivery systems users . J Adolesc Health . 2020;66(1):15–17.
• U.S. Food and Drug Administration. E-cigarette: Safety Communication - Related to Seizures Reported Following E-cigarette Use, Particularly in Youth and Young Adults . U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; 2019. Accessed Feb 14, 2024.
• Marynak KL, Gammon DG, Rogers T, et al. Sales of nicotine-containing electronic cigarette products: United States, 2015 . Am J Public Health . 2017;107(5):702-705.
• Regan AK, Bombard JM, O'Hegarty MM, Smith RA, Tong VT. Adverse birth outcomes associated with prepregnancy and prenatal electronic cigarette use . Obstet Gynecol. 2021;138(1):85–94.
• Regan AK, Pereira G. Patterns of combustible and electronic cigarette use during pregnancy and associated pregnancy outcomes . Sci Rep. 2021;11(1):13508.
• Kutlu MG, Parikh V, Gould TJ. Nicotine addiction and psychiatric disorders . Int Rev Neurobiol. 2015;124:171–208.
• Obisesan OH, Mirbolouk M, Osei AD, et al. Association between e-cigarette use and depression in the Behavioral Risk Factor Surveillance System, 2016-2017 . JAMA Netw Open. 2019;2(12):e1916800.
• Prochaska JJ, Das S, Young-Wolff KC. Smoking, mental illness, and public health . Annu Rev Public Health. 2017;38:165–185.
• Wootton RE, Richmond RC, Stuijfzand BG, et al. Evidence for causal effects of lifetime smoking on risk for depression and schizophrenia: a Mendelian randomisation study . Psychol Med. 2020;50(14):2435–2443.
• Taylor G, McNeill A, Girling A, Farley A, Lindson-Hawley N, Aveyard P. Change in mental health after smoking cessation: systematic review and meta-analysis . BMJ. 2014;348:g1151.
• Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.   Youth Risk Behavior Survey Data Summary & Trends Report: 2011–2021 . U.S. Department of Health and Human Services; 2023. Accessed Dec 15, 2023.
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. Protecting Youth Mental Health: The U.S. Surgeon General's Advisory . Office of the Surgeon General; 2021. Accessed Jan 5, 2024.
• Lechner WV, Janssen T, Kahler CW, Audrain-McGovern J, Leventhal AM. Bi-directional associations of electronic and combustible cigarette use onset patterns with depressive symptoms in adolescents . Prev Med. 2017;96:73–78.
• Gentzke AS, Wang TW, Cornelius M, et al. Tobacco product use and associated factors among middle and high school students—National Youth Tobacco Survey, United States, 2021 . MMWR Surveill Summ. 2022;71(No. SS-5):1–29.

Smoking and Tobacco Use

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Officials change course amid outrage over bail terms for Indian teen accused in fatal drunk driving accident

By Arshad R. Zargar

May 22, 2024 / 1:37 PM EDT / CBS News

New Delhi — Indian justice officials have changed course amid outrage over the bail terms set for a teenager accused of killing two people while driving a Porsche at high speed while drunk and without a license. The 17-year-old son of a wealthy businessman had been ordered to write a 300-word essay and work with the local traffic police for 15 days to be granted bail — a decision that was made within 15 hours of his arrest.

He is accused of killing two young people while speeding in his luxury car on Sunday in the western Indian city of Pune.

The lenient bail conditions initially imposed by the local Juvenile Justice Board shocked many people, including officials, across India. The local police approached the board with an appeal to cancel his bail and seeking permission to treat the boy, who is just four months shy of his 18th birthday, as an adult, arguing that his alleged crime was heinous in nature.

In 2015, India changed its laws to allow minors between 16 and 18 years of age to be tried as adults if they're accused of crimes deemed heinous. The change was prompted by the notorious 2012  Delhi rape case , in which one of the convicts was a minor. Many activists argued that if he was old enough to commit a brutal rape, he should not be treated as a minor.

On Wednesday night, after three days of outrage over the initial decision, the Juvenile Justice Board canceled the teen's bail and sent him to a juvenile detention center until June 5. It said a decision on whether he could be tried as an adult, which would see him face a more serious potential sentence, would be taken after further investigation.

Late Sunday night, police say the teen, after drinking with friends at two local bars in Pune, left in his Porsche Taycan, speeding through narrow roads and allegedly hitting a motorcycle, sending the two victims — a male and female, both 24-year-old software engineers — flying into the air and killing them.

The parents of both victims have urged authorities to ensure a strict punishment for the teen.

The suspect was first charged with causing death by negligence, but that was changed to a more serious charge of culpable homicide not amounting to murder. On Wednesday he was also charged with drunk driving offenses.

Police have arrested the suspect's father and accused him of allowing his son to drive despite being underage, according to Pune Police Commissioner Amitesh Kumar. The legal age for driving in India is 18. Owners of the two bars where the minor was served alcohol have also been arrested and their premises seized.

"We have adopted the most stringent possible approach, and we shall do whatever is at our command to ensure that the two young lives that were lost get justice, and the accused gets duly punished," Kumar said.

Maharashtra state's Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had described the original decision of the Juvenile Justice Board as "lenient" and "shocking," and called the public outrage a reasonable reaction.

Road accidents claimed more than 168,000 lives in India in 2022. More than 1,500 of those people died in accidents caused by drunk driving, according to Indian government data.

Under Indian law, a person convicted of drunk driving can face a maximum punishment of six months in prison and a fine of about $120 for a first offense. If, however, the drunk driving leads to the death of another person, the offender can face two to seven years in prison.

• Deadly Crash
• Deadly Hit And Run
• Drunk Driving

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