5 unconventional uses of nanotechnology

It’s difficult to imagine the future without the use of nanotechnologies. Manipulating matter at an atomic and sub-molecular level has already paved the path for major breakthroughs in biology, chemistry, and medicine. But yet, unfolding the many capabilities of nanotechnology is much more diverse than we’ve imagined. Read on below for five unconventional uses of nanotechnology that you can expect to be a part of your world in the not-so-distant future.

Oil recovery

Although the global expenditure for oil exploration has increased in the past decade, efficiency in oil recovery has remained a huge issue. When petroleum companies shut down an oil well, less than half of the oil in the reservoir is extracted. The rest is often trapped in the rock where it’s too expensive to recover. Fortunately, with nanotechnology, scientists found a way to work around this problem.

The solution? Enhancing an existing drilling technique that involves injecting water into the rock pores where the oil is located. This displaces the oil and moves it out. However, this method on its own is limited as soon as the oil in the pores is extracted. By then, water emerges from the well instead of oil. To prevent this, researchers came up with the idea of infusing the water with nanoparticles that can plug the passages between the rock pores. This method forces the water to take narrower paths into the pores that contain oil, and force the oil out. With successful studies already done in China, this method has proven to be highly efficient in recovering 50% of the black gold that otherwise remains out of reach.

Film making

Credit for the field of nanotechnology can be given to the invention of the scanning tunneling microscope (STM) in the 1980s. Because of its atomic precision, the STM has enabled physicists to study the structure of matter in a way that was impossible with conventional microscopes.

The potential of STM was demonstrated by IBM when it created “A Boy and His Atom,” the world’s smallest film. It was produced by moving individual atoms on a copper surface.

Consisting of 202 frames, the 90-second movie takes action in a space as tiny as 1/1,000 the size of a human hair. To make the film, researchers utilized a feature that comes with the STM: an electrically charged sharp stylus with a tip made of one atom. Capable of sensing the exact positions of the carbon molecules on the animation surface, the stylus can be used to create images of the molecules as well as move them into new positions.

High-resolution displays

While many electronics companies are busy selling their enormous screens to consumers, scientists from Oxford University discovered a way to create pixels that are just a few hundred nanometers across. This was achieved by exploiting the properties of a phase-change material called GST, which is a material found in many thermal management products. In the experiment, the scientists used seven-nanometer-thick layers of GST sandwiched between transparent electrodes. Each layer — just 300 by 300 nanometers in size — acted as a pixel that was electrically switched on and off. By passing electrical current through layers, the scientists were able to produce images with fair quality and contrast.

To conclude, the nano-pixels will serve a variety of purposes where the conventional pixels have become impractical. For example, their small size and thickness will make them a top choice for technologies such as smart glasses, foldable screens, and synthetic retinas. Another advantage of nano-pixel displays is their lower energy consumption.

Phone charging

No matter if you have an iPhone, Samsung, or other similar mobile device, every smartphone that leaves the factory comes with two notorious downsides: battery life and the time it takes to recharge. While the first is a problem still in the works, scientists in Israel have tackled the second issue by creating a battery that requires just 30 seconds to recharge.

The breakthrough was part of a project related to Alzheimer’s disease by researchers from the University of Tel Aviv. The team discovered the peptide molecules that shorten the brain’s neurons and cause disease have a high capacitance. This finding led to the foundation of StoreDot, a company that focuses on nanotechnologies that target consumer products. With assistance from researchers, StoreDot developed NanoDots — technology that harnesses the peptides’ properties to improve the battery life of smartphones. During a demonstration using a Samsung Galaxy S3, the battery was charged from zero to full in less than a minute.

Molecular communication

There are some circumstances when electromagnetic waves, the backbone of global telecommunication, become unusable. For example, think about an electromagnetic pulse that could render communication satellites and the technology that relies on them, useless. Researchers from the University of Warwick in the United Kingdom and the York University in Canada observed how some animal species, particularly insects, employ pheromones to communicate across long distances.

After collecting data, the team developed a communication method in which messages are encoded in the molecules of evaporated alcohol. They then demonstrated the technique using rubbing alcohol as a signaling chemical and “O Canada” as their first message.

To get this experiment started, two devices were employed, including a transmitter to encode and send the message and a receiver to decode and display it. The method worked by keying in a text message on the transmitter using Arduino Uno that comes with an LCD screen and buttons. The controller then converted the text into a binary sequence which was read by an electronic sprayer containing the alcohol. Once the message was read, the sprayer converted it into a controlled set of sprays where “1” represented a spray and “0” equaled no sprays. The alcohol in the air was detected by the receiver, consisting of a chemical sensors and a microcontroller.

After this experiment was proven successful, many scientists expressed confidence in the method, believing it can be helpful in environments such as underground tunnels or pipelines where electromagnetic waves become useless.