Daily Times

Sir: Nanomaterials are the materials that gained importance not because of their dimensions or size though we define Nanomaterials as, such materials having dimensions in nanoscale. But size of Nanomaterials has no such significance in most of the cases, the properties that Nanomaterials offer make them stand out as compared to their bulk counterparts. The properties that make the Nanomaterials stand out can be Physical Properties, Chemical Properties, Electrical Properties, Mechanical Properties, Optical Properties, Magnetic Properties or a combination of some or all of these properties. We as humans have been using Nanomaterials from long time with or without having the knowledge of materials to be Nanoscale materials.

If we are to compete the world in Material Sciences we must invest our energies in Nanotechnology. Nanotechnology is nothing but the manipulation of materials at a very minute scale or Nanoscale; just to understand what Nanoscale is 1 nanometer means 1 billionth of a meter. Or in other words nanotech means altering a substance at atomic or molecular scale. Nanotechnology is being incorporated in almost every field of research be it Material Science, Surface Science, Molecular Biology, Molecular Engineering, Microfabrication, Energy Storage etc. We were already aware of the fields such as Medicine and Electronics but with the advent of Nanotechnology we get to hear about Nanomedicine and Nanoelectronics more frequently. The kinds of results we can get by the use of nanotechnology are simply incomparable. Every substance starts behaving in a whole new and enhanced way when it is manipulated at Nanoscale by using the Nanotechnology and that is what gives Nanotechnology an edge over other branches of Material Sciences because material is same but Nanotechnology makes it behave in a whole new manner.

Just for the understanding of general public Nanotechnology can impact our daily life in a number of ways. We can build more compact and faster computers by using Nanotechnology, we can use Nanoparticles for the increased absorption of medicines, fuel efficiency and corrosion resistance of the vehicles by using the Nanocomposites, water filtration could not be a problem again because Nano-water filters can filter all the particulate, viruses and bacteria. Nanosensors can be used to detect the presence of certain chemicals at amazingly low levels, modern UV protectors also use Nanotechnology. In short Nanotechnology could be used almost everywhere. It is high time that we must realize the importance of Nanosciences and Nanotechnology.

MUHAMMAD NAFEES

Topi, Sawabi

Published in Daily Times, December 21^st 2018.