Keywords
Nanomaterials · Applications · Nanotoxicity · Management
2.1
Introduction
An overview of nanotechnology and nanomaterials:
Nano word represents extremely small or one billion of stated unit i.e., 10
–9 . One
nanometer length is nearly equivalent to 5 silicon atoms or 10 hydrogens bring into
line. Richard P Feynman introduced the concept of nanotechnology in December
1959 in his lecture entitled ‘There’s plenty of room at the bottom’ at American
Physical Society meeting (Wu and Yu 2017). From that time, there have been very
innovative and revolutionary developments that have proved the Feynman’s perception of materials at the nanoscale. The term ‘nanotechnology’ was first invented by
Norio Taniguchi (a professor at the Tokyo University of Science) in 1974 to explore
and describe the ultra-precision and fine dimensions. In 1986, K. Eric Drexler used
the term ‘nanotechnology’ in his book Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of
Nanotechnology after getting inspired by Feynman’s notions.
Presently, the nanotechnology field considered to have huge applications in
different areas such as in various commercial products, biomedical field, drug
development, and delivery, in decontamination of water, in various technologies,
and the formation of smaller, stronger and lighter substances. The use of
nanomaterials (NMs) is getting advanced and creating a great revolution in the
field of nanotechnology. From the last few decades, this field has developed
immensely and has produced different types of NMs including metallic, oxides,
and metal oxides (Ostiguy et al. 2006; Aitken et al. 2004). Nanoscience deals with
the fabrication, characterization, examination, and exploitation of nanosubstances.
Materials at nanoscale exhibit unique properties and unpredictable characteristics
such as extremely small size, surface charge, shape, chemical reactivity,
superparamagnetic behavior, conductivity, unexpected strength, etc. that same material at macro or microscale doesn’t possess. Nanosubstances with size less than
100 nm possess various types of morphology that depends on the orientation of the
nanocrystals. Various types of morphologies are documented in the literature such as
rods, tubes, fibers, wires, petal-shaped, spinel, floral shape, spherical, cubic, trigonal,
tetrahedral, hexagonal, octahedral, decahedral, polyhedral, etc. (Imasaka et al. 2006;
Warner et al. 2008). NMs have exclusive properties such as unique magnetic,
electrical, catalytic, mechanical, and optical (Qin et al. 1999; Webster et al. 1999;
Webster 2000; Vasir et al. 2005; Ferrari 2005). Small size, large surface area, and
exclusive physicochemical properties of nanosubstances make them extremely
oversensitive leading to cause adverse effects on biotic and abiotic components of
the ecosystem (Oberdörster et al. 2005b). Consequently, more focus is given on the
public health and environment safety.
Royal Society and Royal Academy of Engineering in 2004 gave the first report on
nanotoxicity and emphasized the current requirement to study and inspect the
24
V. Dogra et al.
Nanomaterials · Applications · Nanotoxicity · Management
2.1
Introduction
An overview of nanotechnology and nanomaterials:
Nano word represents extremely small or one billion of stated unit i.e., 10
–9 . One
nanometer length is nearly equivalent to 5 silicon atoms or 10 hydrogens bring into
line. Richard P Feynman introduced the concept of nanotechnology in December
1959 in his lecture entitled ‘There’s plenty of room at the bottom’ at American
Physical Society meeting (Wu and Yu 2017). From that time, there have been very
innovative and revolutionary developments that have proved the Feynman’s perception of materials at the nanoscale. The term ‘nanotechnology’ was first invented by
Norio Taniguchi (a professor at the Tokyo University of Science) in 1974 to explore
and describe the ultra-precision and fine dimensions. In 1986, K. Eric Drexler used
the term ‘nanotechnology’ in his book Engines of Creation: The Coming Era of
Nanotechnology after getting inspired by Feynman’s notions.
Presently, the nanotechnology field considered to have huge applications in
different areas such as in various commercial products, biomedical field, drug
development, and delivery, in decontamination of water, in various technologies,
and the formation of smaller, stronger and lighter substances. The use of
nanomaterials (NMs) is getting advanced and creating a great revolution in the
field of nanotechnology. From the last few decades, this field has developed
immensely and has produced different types of NMs including metallic, oxides,
and metal oxides (Ostiguy et al. 2006; Aitken et al. 2004). Nanoscience deals with
the fabrication, characterization, examination, and exploitation of nanosubstances.
Materials at nanoscale exhibit unique properties and unpredictable characteristics
such as extremely small size, surface charge, shape, chemical reactivity,
superparamagnetic behavior, conductivity, unexpected strength, etc. that same material at macro or microscale doesn’t possess. Nanosubstances with size less than
100 nm possess various types of morphology that depends on the orientation of the
nanocrystals. Various types of morphologies are documented in the literature such as
rods, tubes, fibers, wires, petal-shaped, spinel, floral shape, spherical, cubic, trigonal,
tetrahedral, hexagonal, octahedral, decahedral, polyhedral, etc. (Imasaka et al. 2006;
Warner et al. 2008). NMs have exclusive properties such as unique magnetic,
electrical, catalytic, mechanical, and optical (Qin et al. 1999; Webster et al. 1999;
Webster 2000; Vasir et al. 2005; Ferrari 2005). Small size, large surface area, and
exclusive physicochemical properties of nanosubstances make them extremely
oversensitive leading to cause adverse effects on biotic and abiotic components of
the ecosystem (Oberdörster et al. 2005b). Consequently, more focus is given on the
public health and environment safety.
Royal Society and Royal Academy of Engineering in 2004 gave the first report on
nanotoxicity and emphasized the current requirement to study and inspect the
24
V. Dogra et al.