American scientist Neil Rice said: "Nanotechnology is the most likely field of science and engineering to make a breakthrough in the future". This technology is not only a step towards miniaturization, but also a new micro-world, and the movement of matter is dominated by quantum principles.
The traditional theory to explain the properties of materials is only applicable to materials with critical length of 100 nm. If the dimension of a structure is less than the critical length, then the properties of matter cannot be explained by traditional theories. At the end of the 20th century, scientists all over the world are trying to find novel phenomena in the middle field, that is, from single molecule or atomic level to hundreds of thousands of molecules. The research of this basic theory has played a positive role in promoting the progress of nano-science research today.
As we know, the basic unit of matter is atom. So the research of nanotechnology today is actually that people know the world at the atomic level.
As early as 1993, researchers in Beijing Vacuum Physics Laboratory of Chinese Academy of Sciences manipulated atoms as freely as playing chess under a microscope, and wrote the word "China", which indicated that China began to occupy a place in the international nano field. This is just an experiment, but human beings can discover and see the miracle of the existence of the nano-world; Humans will gain more and more benefits in the new field of nanotechnology.
Scientists have described the application prospect of nano-scale products, and it is expected that special and novel new materials will appear in the near future. These materials will have a variety of functions, and can sense environmental changes and respond accordingly. Nanotechnology experts predict that steel will have another strength. 10 times of the material, its weight is only110 of paper, with superconductivity, transparency and high melting point.
What will nanotechnology do in our life? There are many examples, for example, carbon nanotubes, the size of which is less than one tenth of the diameter of human hair, can be used as extremely thin wires or for ultra-small electronic devices. Using nanotechnology in memory can greatly improve the storage function of electronic equipment, and the information of a library with millions of books can be put into a device only the size of a candy bar.
For another example, some people call nano "industrial monosodium glutamate" because if it is "sprinkled" into many traditional materials, the old products will take on a brand-new look. Chopping boards, rags, tiles, subway magnetic cards, these clean little things, once added with nanoparticles, can deodorize and sterilize. Building with cement concrete mixed with human nanoparticles can absorb and degrade harmful substances in the air, and reinforced concrete can also "take a deep breath" like a forest. The existing silicon chips will be replaced by nanotube elements hundreds of times smaller, and the giant computers that occupy several rooms can now be small enough to fit in your pocket.
The most attractive thing in real life is the future "nano-robot", which can enter the human body and destroy all cancer cells without damaging healthy cells; It can send medicine back and forth in human body, clean arteries and repair organs such as heart and brain without surgery.
1999, in the report on nanotechnology, the US government called for accelerating the basic research of nanotechnology and engineering. The president of the United States believes that nanotechnology is very important to maintain the leading position in science, technology and economy in the United States, and proposes to double the federal budget for nanotechnology research to 4? 9.5 billion dollars. The research work of the national nanotechnology plan of the United States will be coordinated by a committee, whose members are senior representatives from various government research and development projects. The Ministry of Energy, the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of Commerce, the Space Agency, the National Science Foundation and the National Institute of Health will play an important role under the guidance of the State Science and Technology Commission. In the initial stage, the National Nanotechnology Plan of the United States focused on materials with novel characteristics at the molecular level and significantly improved physical and chemical properties. The purpose of this plan is not only to provide the top instruments and equipment in the United States, but also to train a group of researchers specializing in the most advanced nanotechnology.
Some frontier areas of nanotechnology that are of interest to nanotechnology researchers in various countries can be summarized as the following five aspects:
-At the nanometer level, the interaction between electrons and atoms will be influenced by changing factors. In this way, it is possible for scientists to control the basic characteristics of materials, such as magnetism, storage capacity and catalytic capacity, without changing the chemical composition of materials.
-At the nanometer level, the biological system has a systematic organization, so that scientists can easily put artificial parts and assembly systems into cells, and it is possible for human beings to imitate nature and create molecular machines.
Nanocomponents have a large surface area, which makes them ideal catalysts and absorbents, and can be used to release electric energy and apply drugs to human cells.
Compared with ordinary materials, the materials made by nanotechnology will greatly reduce the volume and improve the strength and toughness under the condition of unchanged composition. Because nanoparticles are very small, there will be no surface defects, and because nanoparticles have high surface energy, their strength will be improved. This will be very useful for manufacturing high strength composite materials.
-Compared with the macro-structure, the order of magnitude of nano-structure in each dimension is smaller, so the interaction will happen faster, which will bring people a system with higher energy efficiency and better performance, and make people gradually move towards the high-end science and technology field.
With the efforts of nano experts all over the world, the nano age is beckoning to us. Some scientists predict that this nanotechnology revolution can be compared with the revolution caused by the replacement of transistors by microelectronic devices. Micro-nano transistors and nano-memory chips will increase the speed and efficiency of computers by millions of times, make the storage capacity of disks reach hundreds of times today, and reduce the energy consumption to 100,000 times. It can also improve the communication bandwidth by hundreds of times, and the foldable display screen will be 10 times brighter than the current display screen. In addition, it is possible at the nanometer level that biological and abiotic components will be combined into interactive sensors and processors, which is more conducive to serving human beings.
How far can scientists foresee the future? The Semiconductor Industry Association of the United States has drawn up a roadmap for the development of processors, sensors, memories and transmission equipment, but this roadmap only extends to 20 10 years, and only reaches the size of 100 nanometer, which is larger than all nano-structured devices. The association explained that it takes time for scientific discovery to become a commercially feasible technology, and it is estimated that nanotechnology will not mature until 20 10 ~ 20 15.
It can be seen that in the near future, it is an indisputable fact that nano-scale products will appear in large numbers. With the in-depth research of nanotechnology and products, nanotechnology and technology patents will be commercialized in more than ten years. It seems that nanotechnology will really become a member of our daily life, which will make human society, living environment and technology better. We are eager for this day to come soon.