Top Line Trends by Glen Hiemstra

Nanotechnology - Small is Getting Big

Nanotechnology may be the technological development most

lil~ely to change our lives, and our businesses. Yet, when I

ask audiences what they know about it, or even whether they

have heard of it, a surprising majority know little or nothing

about nanotech.

While many developments are included within the term

"nanotechnology," in general it means the ability to precisely

manipulate matter at the molecular or even atomic scale.

Working at the nanoscale means dealing with a billionth of a

meter or millionth of a millimeter.

It was the invention of the scanning tunneling microscope

in 1981 - and then the atomic force microscope in 1986 ­

that enabled this work to begin. For the first time we could

see atoms and molecules, in real time, as they were manipu­

lated. Recently, on a visit to the Sandia Labs nanotech center,

I was able to do just that. It is very impressive to look into a

viewer and see a single molecule being moved from one place

to another.

This new ability - not just to see atoms and molecules,

but to begin to precisely manipulate matter at that scale ­

is leading to breakthroughs in a variety of fields, including

materials, medicine, energy, and even fashion and SPOrtS

equipment. Perhaps the most important thing to understand

about nanotech products is that when you are able to work at

the nanoscale, you can produce not just small materials, but

materials that have unique properties.

A variety of commercial products are already on the market.

For example, you can purchase golf equipment - both golf

balls and clubs - made with nano-engineered components.

Certain sunscreen products contain a nanoscale compound.

Slacks and shirts come in nano-fabric that makes them virtu­

ally stain-proof.

In the field of medicine, a variety of experiments are

underway with new drug delivery and cancer treatments at

the nanoscale. Among the most promising are the creation

of "smart-bombs" - tiny spheres of silicon or other material

to which are attached cancer-finding antibodies. Injected into

the blood stream, they find their way to individual cancer

cells and bind to them. In one method, the smart bombs are

heated using light; in another, using radio waves. The cancer

cells are 1~i1led without damage to surrounding cells. Similar

experiments focus on using smart bombs to deliver drugs to

individual cells. The key here is that these methods promise

to locate and kill individual cells, even free-floating cancer

cells - a level of precision far beyond anything possible

today.

Other research and development teams are applying one of

the earliest success stories in nanotech, carbon nanotubes, to

water filtration. Once costing thousands of dollars an ounce

to produce, carbon nanotubes can now be had for pennies an

ounce. Layered into simple water filters that can be printed

on old newsprint machines, highly effective but inexpensive

filters are being produced, holding promise for a world short

of clean water. Seldon Technologies is a leader in this field.

On the energy front, companies like Altairnano are using

nanoscale compounds such as lithium titanate to re-design

lithium-ion batteries. The result? Batteries that can be

re-charged thousands of times, rather than hundreds, with

very fast charge and discharge times, high power levels, and

with very high heat tolerance. Applications range from all­

electric vehicles to the power grid.

Other companies, such as Nanosolar, are concentrating on

nano-engineered chemistry that enables them to spray solar

cells from ink-jet style printers. The resulting thin-film, flex­

ible cells, produced in vast sheets, entered the commercial

market at the end of 2007.

Nanotechnology can lead to tiny products obviously, but to

huge products as well. For example, nano-concrete promises

to change the construction industry. Traditional concrete

forms a random crystalline structure. But with the ability

now to see into the molecular structure as concrete is formed,

it has become possible to change the mix and temperature

in just the right way so that concrete crystals stack into a

perfect shape like oranges in a farmers market stall. When

concrete is made this way, a typical highway bridge-deck can

be reduced from 12 inches thick to Jess than half of that, with

a resulting decrease in weight, yet with increased strength.

It is sometimes said, not inappropriately, that nanotech­

nology is just a fancy word for chemistry, and in many ways

this is true. Most nanotech products are made using varia­

tions of chemical mixing or layering techniques. And thus,

continued on page 12

Vol. 58 No.6· June 2008 • Compoundings 11

Top Line

Trends continued from page 77

being chemistry, it is natural that the lubricant industry will

eventually be signifIcant players in the nanotech field.

Among current applications are nanodiamond as a solid­

state lubricant, various thin-fIlm coatings that are deposited

at the atomic scale, and experiments with combinations of

carbon nanotubes, ceramics and polymers to produce lubri ­

cants that will work in space as well as on earth. It would

seem likely that in the future every lubricant will essentially be

produced at the nanoscale, as our ability to observe materials

at the quantum level improves our ability to understand and

modify these materials.

A fInal note on nanotechnology is that the last year or two

have seen increased concerns raised about possible environ­

mental and human health impacts of nanoscale materials.

For example, nanodiamonds may indeed be "forever." As a

result, a variety of institutions are beginning to focus on how

to make nanotech, which holds such promise, as green and

safe as possible. A leader in this effort is the University of

Oregon's "Project on Emerging Nanotechnologies."

If you are in the business of making or selling things that

are made from molecules, I cannot think of a more valuable

learning project than to put nanotechnology on your radar. •

Hiemstra is the author afTurning the Future into Revenue and founder ofFuturist.cam. He was a featured speaker at ILMA's 2008 Management Forum, and has consulted with a wide variety ofenterprises for two decades, assisting them in planning for the long-term future. He can be reached at www.futurist.com.

Suggestions for further exploration:

General Information: http://www.foresight.org/

Nano water filters: http://www.seldontechnologies.com/

Nano batteries: http://www.altairnano.com/

Nano solar: http://www.nanosolar.com/

Will nanotech mean the "End of the Oil Change?"

http://www.plantservices.com/articles/2006/030.html

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12 Compoundings· June 2008 • Vol. 58 No.6