Nanoscience and its
end product – nanotechnology - has often been called the “science of small.”
Whence this
description comes from actually refers to the ways current researchers manipulate
materials in order to come up with a product – the traditional top-down method
and the new common of bottom-up approach.
Traditionalists use the top-down method to produce
cutting-edge forms by continuously chipping and removing pieces from a “large
material.” Here, they fashion a product much like a sculpture is formed out of
a big stone. The method uses much energy, releases toxic chemicals, and
generates much wastes.
On the other hand, today’s researchers use the bottom-up
approach where, like playing with Lego, they pick and connect desired shapes
one by one until they get the desired form and function. This approach
is achieved by molecular assembly techniques.
Richard Feynman, an American theoretical
physicist, described as early as 1959,
the process by which future scientists would manipulate and control
individual atoms of a molecule -- the stage where nano research begins.
How small is nano small?
Nano
as a unit of measurement of length is comparable to similar units like meter.
Going
to the
colorful side of describing the scale of things, the nano way, rather at nano
size, do you know that ONE NANOMETER is about as
long as your fingernail grows in one second?
Still cannot imagine how “big” one nanometer is, then, try this. A human hair is approximately 80,000 -
100,000 nanometers wide!
Now, THAT
IS SMALL.
Coining of the term
nanotechnology, however, started in 1974 – 15 years after research on materials
at nano size began. Today, nanotechnology research mainly consists of the process
of separation, consolidation, and re-development of materials by one atom or
one molecule.
A Pinoy NanoLab opens for Juan techies
At the Industrial Technology
Development Institute (ITDI-DOST), the country’s first NanoLab is one of the
youngest of service units providing technical services to local industries.
It first opened to
the public on July 1, 2015 for Juan
techies to personally appreciate the look and feel of nano products.
First introduced in
2012 by former Science Secretary Mario Go Montejo, NanoLab is one of the very
few public nanotechnology research laboratories in the country.
It offers world-class
equipment and devices meant to provide nanotechnology-related technical
services. By developing materials with structure
at the nanoscale, researchers can explore their unique optical, electronic, or
mechanical properties.
NanoLab is currently housed at the Materials
Science Division (MSD-ITDI) building located at the DOST Complex in Taguig
City.
Here, a high
resolution field emission transmission electron microscope (FE-TEM) with high
resolution STEM imaging and Energy Dispersive X-ray Spectroscopy (EDS) can be
found, a first in the Philippines. FE-TEM can magnify materials up to 1.5
million times and is capable of rapid data acquisition.
There are 10 other
high-level machines and gadgets that MSD researchers use to undertake R&D
studies on materials science and engineering, including collaborative work and
provision of technical assistance to the industry and academe.
Whipping up the cool in nanotech
Our
biological systems abound in a variety of nanomaterials.
Some
foreign and very creative researchers may have in fact used some of these in
their studies -- butterfly wing scales, even horny materials from birds and
animals such as skin, claws, beaks, feathers,
horns, and hair.
Would
you believe that even our own bones are all-natural, organic nanomaterials?
At
NanoLab, the fearlessly curious may find a variety of sources of nanomaterials,
often natural and functional. The Lab
has, however, decided to rely on what are abundant, unexploited, and natural organic or inorganic nanomaterials found in the Philippines’ countryside.
You may be surprised
at just how seemingly ordinary, dull, and everyday materials can be redeveloped
into cool nanotech.
So compare your
everywhere, everyday materials like nanoclay from the Bicol Region; cassava and
corn starch from your local supplier; zeolite from Pangasinan; silica or quartz
from Camarines Sur; natural rubber and halloysite from Mindanao; and calcium
carbonate, a substance found in rocks.
Now see what are on
our selling table made from nanoclay sourced from our local bentonite ore in
the Bicol Region:
1. Biodegradable
nanocomposite films, a new take on green
food packaging and cutleries;
2. Halloysite
nanoclay-filled epoxy molding compound for integrated circuit (IC) (ICs are used in virtually all electronic equipment)
or microchip packaging, to allow easy
handling and assembly onto printed circuit
boards and to protect these from
damage and moisture;
3. Recycled
polycarbonate-layered silicate nanocomposites (PLSN), as filler in
nanocomposites to significantly improve
composite properties such as enhanced mechanical strength, gas impermeability,
thermal stability, and flame retardancy, among others;
4. Local bioactive polymer nanofribrous scaffold for human
tissue engineering; and
5. Nanostructure
fibrous membrane for wastewater treatment.
Certainly, these are innovations which are nothing but
common. They are not only cool but
effective as well.
But,
there are a lot more, however, that one may find as thought-provoking at the 2017 ITDI 5th
Cluster Techno Offering event featuring advanced technologies to
be held on February 15, 2018 at the FNRI Auditorium, DOST Complex in Taguig
City – more than nanoresearch, in fact.
On
Thursday, nearly 200 industry members of the industry, research, and academe
will be treated to a presentation of three nanotechnologies for licensing or
for adoption through training.
The
2017 ITDI Technology Offering, a five-part technology pitching series began on
October 12, 2017, aimed to offer industries on food processing, health and
wellness, green engineering, and advanced technologies alternative processes as
a way to shake up their businesses. (AMGuevarra\\ ITDI S&T Media Service)
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