Nanotechnology and Carbon Nanotubes Essay

Submitted By Jafardabest
Words: 1542
Pages: 7

Introduction
The word 'nano' describes physical lengthscales that are on the order of a billionth of a meter long. Nano-sized materials are substances that lie in physical size in between the macroscale materials (the realm of condensed matter physics) and molecular compounds (the realm of traditional chemistry). In this respect, nanoparticle research is primarily focused on studying how the optical and electrical properties of a given material evolve independently from those of individual atoms or molecules from those of the parent bulk. In this experiment, an analysis of previously conducted experiments and the various gathered data were used in order to readily conclude the practicality of nanotechnology in medicine and its potential potency in realistic biologic systems. As such, it is due to the unpredictable and harmful albeit radioactive effects of ‘nanotoxicology’, the unadorned use of engineered nanomaterials is restrained globally.

Background

Nanomaterials are either man-made or can occur in nature (in various plants, algae, and volcanic activity.
Nanoparticles, much like nanomaterials, are either synthesized or machined, for safety purposed they are generally suspended in a liquid. The color of said liquid is dependent of the surface area of the nanoparticles within it. Solid nanoparticles generally appear in three forms, amorphous (no long range order, glass-like), polycrystalline (multiple domains) or crystalline (a single extended domain with long range order). Since nano typically concerns itself with crystalline metal nanoparticles and semiconductor nanocrystals, wires, and wells, having a basic picture of how the elements arrange themselves in these nanocrystalline systems is important. In this respect, crystal structure comes into play in many aspects of research, from a material's electronic spectra to its density and even to its powder x-ray diffraction pattern. Crystaline atoms are generally pictured as being arranged on an imaginary lattice. Individual atoms (or groups) are hung on the lattice, (much like that of Christmas ornaments.) These individual (or groups of) atoms are referred to as the "basis" of the lattice. Their endless repetition on a lattice makes up the crystal. In the simplest of cases, the basis consists of only a single atom and each atom is located directly over a lattice point. However, it is also very common to see a basis consisting of multiple atoms, which is the case when one deals with binary or even ternary semiconductors. Of these lattices there are fourteen different arrangements called the three dimensional Bravais. Depending on the combination of said laid lattices the structure is either single or complex element crystals. (An exception being those falling under the 'diamond structure' because it does immediately resemble any of the other lattices. The diamond structure differs from its counterparts because it has a multi atom basis. Therefore, it does not immediately resemble any of the fourteen Bravais lattices. It is adopted by elements that have a tendency to form strong covalent bonds, resulting in tetrahedral bonding arrangements. Another subtype of these complex element crystals are compound crystals which have not a single atom basis, but rather a basis consisting of multiple atoms as well as a basis mode up of different elements.)
In contrast, nanomaterials come in a wider spectrum of forms. A few commonly used examples being carbon nanotubes, fullrenes, graphene, and nanocrystals. Carbon nanotubes are cylindrical nanostructures generally in the form of a tube. They are manufactured as single wall carbon nanotubes or multiwall carbon nanotubes. They can be developed by laser ablation, chemical vapor deposition (chemical synthesis) or arc discharge. In regards to tensile strength, carbon nanotubes are the strongest an d stiffest material to date (approximately five times more sturdy than Kevlar.) Fullrenes are any molecule in the form of a hollow