Sustainable Nanotechnology

14 Role of Eco‐friendly Nanotechnology for Green and Clean Technology

Bibhuti Bhusan Kakoti, Kangkan Deka, and Manjir Sarma Kataki

Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Dibrugarh University, Dibrugarh, Assam, India

14.1 Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology is the science of manipulating matter on molecular and atomic‐scale range. The prefix “nano” corresponds to a Greek prefix meaning “dwarf” or something very small and portrays one thousand millionths of a meter (10⁻⁹ m) [1]. In his talk “There is plenty of room at the bottom” in 1959, Richard Feynman first presented the idea of nanotechnology, in which he outlined the possibility of synthesis by direct atom manipulation, which is considered as the beginning of advanced nanotechnology [1–4]. In 1974, Norio Taniguchi, a Japanese scientist, for the first time coined and defined the term “nanotechnology” as “nanotechnology consists mainly of separation, consolidation, deformation of materials by one atom or one molecule” [5].

The National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) in the United States describes nanotechnology as “a science, engineering, and technology conducted at the nanoscale (1–100 nm), where unique phenomena allow novel applications in a broad range of fields, from chemistry, physics and biology, to medicine, engineering and electronics” (NSET, 2004) [6].

In its 2004 report, the Royal Society and the Royal Academy of Engineering gave the following definition referring to as “nanotechnologies”: Nanotechnologies is the design, ...