C haptEr 9 design Environments and systems
396
As discussed in Section 9.4, directions for many future nano-based electronic systems are characterized by improved performance, decreasing
size, increased multifunctionality, and decreased costs. Many research
efforts are explicitly directed toward making improved sensors for a
variety of applications, and many are expected to find a ready application area in interactive, smart, and intelligent systems. Expected benefits include not only improved performances but also ever smaller
and cheaper sensors. Nanoelectromechanical Systems (NEMS) are on
the immediate horizon as well. These trends intersect very well with
technological needs in interactive, smart, and intelligent systems.
The idea of being able to have large numbers of inexpensive sensors
distributed throughout a spatial environment that are designed to
capture specific kinds of information (about users, processes, or
conditions within a space) has great appeal with designers involved
with conceptualizing not only smart buildings, but smart cities as
well. A future can be imagined where distributed sensors (perhaps
the “swarms” discussed in Section 9.4, but more likely multitudes
of still tiny but more sophisticated inter-connected nanoscale
sensors, actuators and other devices) aid in our every living and work
activities within buildings and cities. It is here that trends toward
smallness, high performance, and multifunctionality in enabling
electronic systems intersect with goals of interactivity, smartness,
and intelligence. At the moment, this area remains rather speculative, but the potential is clearly there.
9.9 nanomatErials Costs
The enormous potential for widespread nanomaterial applications
to occur inherently depends on the availability of large quantities
of nanomaterials at reasonable costs. In the current emerging state
of the field, not all nanomaterial forms found in the laboratory are
widely available, fewer still as commercialized products. Costs for
nanomaterial products are also high. The importance of costs in
any application or design context hardly needs explanation. Costs
are invariably a driving factor, one often cited as an inhibiting factor
in the development of applications involving nanomaterials—and
not without good reason. In the early days of nanomaterial exploration, a gram of nanotubes could cost several thousand dollars; even
recently, 500 or so dollars per gram was a common price. Even if
the amounts used in applications were relatively small, say, 5% by
weight in a nanocomposite, final product costs were so high as to
prohibit all but the most specialized applications. Costs have since
dropped dramatically but nonetheless remain a significant factor.
396
As discussed in Section 9.4, directions for many future nano-based electronic systems are characterized by improved performance, decreasing
size, increased multifunctionality, and decreased costs. Many research
efforts are explicitly directed toward making improved sensors for a
variety of applications, and many are expected to find a ready application area in interactive, smart, and intelligent systems. Expected benefits include not only improved performances but also ever smaller
and cheaper sensors. Nanoelectromechanical Systems (NEMS) are on
the immediate horizon as well. These trends intersect very well with
technological needs in interactive, smart, and intelligent systems.
The idea of being able to have large numbers of inexpensive sensors
distributed throughout a spatial environment that are designed to
capture specific kinds of information (about users, processes, or
conditions within a space) has great appeal with designers involved
with conceptualizing not only smart buildings, but smart cities as
well. A future can be imagined where distributed sensors (perhaps
the “swarms” discussed in Section 9.4, but more likely multitudes
of still tiny but more sophisticated inter-connected nanoscale
sensors, actuators and other devices) aid in our every living and work
activities within buildings and cities. It is here that trends toward
smallness, high performance, and multifunctionality in enabling
electronic systems intersect with goals of interactivity, smartness,
and intelligence. At the moment, this area remains rather speculative, but the potential is clearly there.
9.9 nanomatErials Costs
The enormous potential for widespread nanomaterial applications
to occur inherently depends on the availability of large quantities
of nanomaterials at reasonable costs. In the current emerging state
of the field, not all nanomaterial forms found in the laboratory are
widely available, fewer still as commercialized products. Costs for
nanomaterial products are also high. The importance of costs in
any application or design context hardly needs explanation. Costs
are invariably a driving factor, one often cited as an inhibiting factor
in the development of applications involving nanomaterials—and
not without good reason. In the early days of nanomaterial exploration, a gram of nanotubes could cost several thousand dollars; even
recently, 500 or so dollars per gram was a common price. Even if
the amounts used in applications were relatively small, say, 5% by
weight in a nanocomposite, final product costs were so high as to
prohibit all but the most specialized applications. Costs have since
dropped dramatically but nonetheless remain a significant factor.