What is Nano-Engineering?
Nanoengineering is the application extension of Nanotechnology, which is a collective term for a range of new technologies that involve the manipulation of matter at small scales, typically 0.2-100 nanometres. Such capability enables us to invent, design and utilize a large array of new materials and new devices in innovative applications that have not been possible before. It is an emerging field of technological development with a strong thrust internationally. It is predicted to impact on practically every major sector of engineering, from consumer goods, health care and medicine, food and agriculture, to space technology, telecommunications, environment and energy, to name a few.
Nanoengineering is increasingly recognised in Australia as a key emerging development with wide-ranging industrial and social impacts in the next few decades. The Federal Government has set up a number of initiatives, often with State government support, including R&D funding, national research networks and industrial workforces, to support and to facilitate development in this new field.
In a specific sense, "Nanoengineering" may be viewed as a middle stage in a full spectrum of technological development from nanoscience to nanotechnology to nanoengineering and to commericalisation.
It has been a keen attempt by many scientists, engineers and industrialists to set a clear definition of "nanotechnology". The main viewpoints and attributes of "nanotechnology" may be summarised as the following:
- It is engineering at the atomic, molecular and supramolecular levels. It involves processing and manipulating matter at extremely small scales, typically 0.1 - 100nm. At this scale materials exhibit properties and behaviour that differ from those of traditional bulk materials.
- It must involve creating new things and functions and establishing new understandings that were previously not possible. Studying matter at the atomic level has long been an engineering endeavour since the discovery of the Periodic Table. Nanotechnology must involve new discoveries and inventions.
- It is the collective term for a range of new technologies, techniques and processes at the nano scale. It does not have a "killer" application itself. It is an enabling technology across an array of traditional engineering disciplines.
