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Research Activities
Research Activities
Nanotechnology - Nanomaterial Research
Issue
Nanotechnology presents opportunities to create better materials and products to improve the quality of our lives. The challenge of nanotechnology is to ensure that we are cognizant of the potential benefits of nanotechnology, including health, economic and environmental benefits, while providing appropriate protections for human health and the environment.
The use of nanotechnology in the consumer and industrial sectors is expected to increase significantly. To meet EPA's mission to protect human health and the environment, it is important to understand the impacts of nanotechnology on human health and ecosystems.
The Land Research Program in EPA's Office of Research and Development is providing the science to protect and prevent potential nanomaterial contamination in the environment and aquatic ecosystems. The nanomaterials research complements other research on nanotechnology by EPA researchers and recipients of EPA's STAR grants program. http://es.epa.gov/ncer/nano/index.html
Nanotechnology Research Strategy
A draft Nanomaterial Research Strategy (76 pp, 1.1 MB, About PDF) for conducting research on nanomaterials is undergoing external review. The strategy builds on the scientific needs identified in:
- The report by the Nanotechnology Environmental and Health Implications (NEHI) Working Group (2006)
- EPA's White Paper on Nanotechnology (2007) (PDF) (136 pp, 4 MB, About PDF)
EPA is part of the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI), a federal R&D program established to coordinate the multiagency efforts in nanoscale science, engineering, and technology. The Agency's unique research emphasis on the fate and transport of nanomaterials and their ecological effects will complement other federal agency activities.
Science Objective
The Land Research Program is conducting research to understand the fate and transport of nanotechnology materials on land and in aquatic ecosystems. This involves studying where and how nanomaterial may travel through an ecosystem after contamination occurs.Nanotechnology research for fate, transport, detection, and modeling of engineered nanomaterials is needed to reduce uncertainties associated with the material. This research will characterize the fate and transport of nanomaterials from their source to their exposure to human or ecological receptors.
Research is designed to:
Understand the processes that govern the fate and transport of engineered nanomaterials
Understand the chemical and physical properties of engineered nanomaterials and how they influence fate and transport processes
Develop predictive models for transport of engineered nanomaterials.
Research will assist EPA in both risk assessment and risk management of the engineered nanomaterials.
What is Nanotechnology?
Nanotechnology is the understanding and control of matter at dimensions of roughly one to 100 nanometers, where unique phenomena enable novel applications. A nanometer is one billionth of a meter - about one ten-thousandth the diameter of a human hair.Nanotechnology encompasses nanoscale science, engineering and technology, and involves imaging, measuring, modeling, and manipulating matter at this length scale. Nanoscale materials may have organizations and properties different than the same chemical substances displayed at a larger scale.