Applied Nanotechnology

CHAPTER 4 Why Nanotechnology?

With almost every manufactured product, if the same performance can be achieved by using less material, there will be a cost advantage in doing so. A well-known example is the metal beverage can. Improvements in design—including the formulation of the alloy from which it is made—have led to significantly less material being used for the same function (containing a beverage). In this example, there are concomitant, secondary advantages of miniaturization (e.g., because the can is also lighter in weight, it costs less to move around). There may be additional issues related to recyclability.

Note that in this case the site for miniaturization was the thickness of the wall of the can. The basic functional specifications ...