Magnificent Future for Magic Nanotechnology

Nanometer is a kind of measurement units (one meter consists of one billion nanometers). Nanostructure is a tiny structure with the dimension less than 100 nanometer and nanotechnology is a scientific technology to create or recreate substance in the form of single atom or molecule.

In 1959, the famous physical scientist Richard, the Nobel winner, announced his prediction that human beings could produce smaller machine by small machine and people could create new things by rearranging atoms in line, which was the earliest picture for nanotechnology.

As a frontier of modern science, nanotechnology possesses a promising future and consequently it is the target of many countries. Japan has established Nano-material Research Center and embraced it as the key project in 5-year scientific development plan. Germany has built technology research net specially aiming to nano. U.S. has considered nanotechnology as the nuclear of the next industry revolution and investments poured into development will be enlarged to 497 million USD in 2001 from 116 million USD in 1997.

Specialists anticipate that the sales volume of nanotechnology products will soar to 50 billion USD in 2001. A nanochemical research center in Germany has signed agreements and established cooperation relationships with more than 90 companies in the world.

Products of nanotechnology are in astonishing tiny size. Due to it belongs to a whole new technology, which is just like a newly-born baby, the application is not universal yet. However, nanotechnology bearing enormous potentialities has already painted the magnificent future for human beings.

It can develop the new chip for computer. The mini chip will maintain gigantic memory, which sharply improves the functions of computer while reduce its size. At the beginning of this year, when President Clinton declared to invest 5 billion USD to the research of nanotechnology, he exclaimed; ¡®Let¡¯s image it, all books of the State Council¡¯s Library can be memorized into a chip which is not bigger than a cubic sugar¡±.

It can reconstruct molecule by pointed atoms to create new substance. Today, the development trend of material technology is towards smaller measurement units. In the past, the measurement unit was micrometer, now we have nanometer. Because of the shrink of crystal¡¯s length, the material will contain much more crystals so that it will arise the earthquake on certain function of this material. For example, porcelain, which people used to classify as the fragile, will be made as the component of engine after it is processed by nanotechnology.

There is vast continent for nano-products in application in the future.

Intellectualized medicine put into nanoparticle suit can search and attack Cancer cells automatically and remedy the damaged organs as soon as it enters human body.

The rejection effect after transplant will be prevented if the artificial organ is covered by nanoparticles. And new medical equipment developed by nanotechnology will easily diagnose various diseases by judging the protein and DNA inside blood sample.

Nanofilm can detect the pollution caused by chemical and biological reagent and it can filter them in time.

To put special nano-product into cable, it can give an alarm when the cable reaches the burning temperature. Then, the tragedy like the fire of Moscow TV Tower will be avoided.

Paint nanocoverage on the surface of knife, the knife will be sharp than ever before; paint it on glasses or lens, people will not be worried about scratch tracks.

The nanometal has two characteristics. One is excellent ductility and elongation , another is low melting point. Generally, the melting point of gold is above 1000 degree, but that of the nanogold with the crystal dimension of 3 nanometers is only around 500 degree. Metals, in daily life, are in different colors while they will all present black after they are nanolized.

Though, it is only the start for mankind to step the world of nano, people have been already sticked to it for its unlimited potentials. The development of a new technology must have been called on the developments of other technology.Therefore, scientists in the field of nanotechnology declare proudly that they are leading a new technology revolution.

China has also devoted to the research of nanotechnology and has already gain several significant achievements.

Working under the ordinary voltage, hundreds of millions carbon nanotubes on a one-centimeter-wide silicon chip are consecutively emitting electrons, which present five clear characters ¡®CHINA¡¯ on the screen. It is the new display device developed by nanotubes in China.

Till now, the display device has been already stably operating 1,600 hours and there are no signs to show that the displaying quality and functions are weakening or reducing. Compared with traditional display device, the nanodisplay holds the advantages of small size, lightweight, energy saving and outstanding displaying quality. It only few microseconds to response and can run smoothly under the temperature ranging from ¨C45 degree to 85 degree. Therefore, it has been granted a promising future.

The birth of nanodisplay marks the breakthrough in China¡¯s nanotube application and points the new short cut to universal mirror display device. People, now, start to experience the wonder created by the ¡®super fiber.

Super fiber, in fact, is nanotube discovered by scientists in 1991, which has arisen general attention worldwide for its ¡®magical¡¯ functions. Recently, scientists have found that nanotubes possesses such excellent field emitting function that it can replace other materials to be cathodal material for display device. From then on, nanotube is start to launch in people¡¯s life.

In ordinary temperature, hairline-shaped nanocopper was extended to approximately one meter long from one centimeter by cool rolling and its thick was shrunk to 20 micrometer from 1 millimeter. It was the first time in the world for human beings to directly observe the significant function of nanometal, super tractility under room temprature.

The discovery won compliments in the field and the article on the experiment was published on Science, the authoritative magazine in the world. Moreover, professor H Gleiter, the forthgoer on the field of nanomaterial, praised it as the great breakthrough in the field¡­it first showed human how non-interspaced nanomaterial changes its shape.

With the potent support from State Physical Science Fund Committee and Ministry of Education, scientists in China are carrying on all researches and more achievements are expected to be acquired in the near future.



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