A Look at Emerging Green Nanotechnology
The image above by Pelagie Favi and Samantha Tracht of the University of Tennessee shows tentacles protruding from a sundew plant secreting a powerful adhesive capable of stretching to a million times its size. One microliter (0.0002 teaspoons) of the sundew’s adhesive is capable of covering a 25-square-millimeter (about 0.04 square-inch) surface.
Scientists are studying organic materials at the nano level to learn how they might be used, modeled or synthetically re-created for other purposes. The next several hundred years will be about studying everything that exists atom by atom with a complete and total transformation of how we see reality.
This is just one example in the new field of nanotechnology which is so wide it’s difficult to describe. According to scientists, energy, water, food, environment, poverty, terrorism and war, disease, education, democracy and pollution will all be affected by nanotechnology. It is a tidal wave coming ashore affecting everything in its path. Recent strides have been made in emerging “green nanotechnology,” where huge breakthroughs have occurred or are imminent in the following areas:
- Nanostructure Photovoltaics or “Nano PV”
- Nanostructures for Energy Storage, i.e., batteries
- Solid State Lighting
- Thermoelectrics
- Water Treatment, Desalination and Water Re-Use. (Read More)