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Here you will find the NNI library of documents, including NNI publications and brochures, workshop and technical reports, PowerPoint presenations and slides from workshop presentations, and a variety of additional resources such as online journals, newsletters, and websites. Choose any of the parameters from the options below and click search.

 
 
Format: February 15, 2013
Format: February 15, 2013

The documents in this database that were published by the NNI are the work of the U.S. Government and are in the public domain. Subject to the stipulations below, they may be distributed and copied without acknowledgement to NNCO. Copyrights to contributed materials and graphics that may be included in these documents are reserved by original copyright holders or their assignees and are used here under the Government's license and by permission. Requests to use any images must be made to the provider indentified in the image credits, or to the NNCO if no provider is identified.


Nanotechnology Fact

Nanotechnology is used in many commercial products and processes, for example, nanomaterials are used to manufacture lightweight, strong materials for applications such as boat hulls, sporting equipment, and automotive parts. Nanomaterials are also used in sunscreens and cosmetics.

Nanostructured products are used to produce space-saving insulators which are useful when size and weight is at a premium—for example, when insulating long pipelines in remote places, or trying to reduce heat loss from an old house. Nanostructured catalysts make chemical manufacturing processes more efficient, by saving energy and reducing waste.

In healthcare, nanoceramics are used in some dental implants or to fill holes in diseased bones, because their mechanical and chemical properties can be “tuned” to attract bone cells from the surrounding tissue to make new bone. Some pharmaceutical products have been reformulated with nanosized particles to improve their absorption and make them easier to administer. Opticians apply nanocoatings to eyeglasses to make them easier to keep clean and harder to scratch and nanoenabled coatings are used on fabrics to make clothing stain-resistant and easy to care for.

Almost all high-performance electronic devices manufactured in the past decade use some nanomaterials. Nanotechnology helps build new transistor structures and interconnects for the fastest, most advanced computing chips.

All told, nanotechnologies are estimated to have impacted $251 billion across the global economy in 2009. This is estimated to grow to $2.4 trillion by 2015 (Lux Research, 2010).

For more information, see Benefits and Applications.

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