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Nanoproducts: Biomedical, Environmental, and Energy Applications

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Handbook of Consumer Nanoproducts

Abstract

The word “nano,” derived from the Greek word nanos meaning “dwarf,” is now being extensively used not only by the scientific community but also by a common man in daily life. Many “nano-” words (nanometer, nanoscience, nanotechnology, nanoscale) can be easily found in dictionaries, and some recent additions are nanostructure, nanomaterial, nanoproduct, nanorobot, nanowire, nanodevices, nanoarrays, and nanotools, and the list is endless. The developments and advances in the field of nanoscience and nanotechnology have made life uber easy in this era. Nanotechnology represents an emerging field which deals with the designing, manufacturing, and application of materials at the atomic and molecular scale. These materials exhibit novel properties and functions with structural features having at least one dimension in the nanometer scale (1–100 nm). The important role and application of nanotechnology in almost every field of science is quite evident by large number of research papers published in this area.

Nanotechnology paved way to the development of new innovative materials, systems, and devices which seem to have promising results and potential to tackle most of the problems the world is facing today. It has benefitted almost every field of science including chemistry, biology, physics, material science, engineering, environmental science, food and agriculture, medicine, and information technology. This emerging research field has given new perspectives or solutions to many environmental problems like availability of clean water, nanocatalyst for hydrogen generation, dental materials, drug delivery systems, antimicrobial nano powders, nanosensors for detection of pathogens or toxic materials, gas-separation nanodevices, and many more. In recent years, it has also been applied to medicine and healthcare for the development of nanodevices to prevent, monitor, and treat lethal diseases, and promising results are achieved especially in the cancer treatment. Although the advancements and innovations in this field have significantly improved the standard of living, nevertheless, there are associated concerns and uncertainties about its impact on human health. These concerns can be overcome by utilizing the concepts of green chemistry and green engineering to produce nanomaterials and nanoproducts, which can significantly contribute toward novel discoveries and developments without causing detrimental effects on environment and human health.

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  1. Department of Chemistry, Rajdhani College, University of Delhi, New Delhi, India

    Shikha Kaushik

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Kaushik, S. (2021). Nanoproducts: Biomedical, Environmental, and Energy Applications. In: Handbook of Consumer Nanoproducts. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-6453-6_63-1

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-6453-6_63-1

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  • Print ISBN: 978-981-15-6453-6

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