Nanotechnology Overview: Opportunities and Challenges

Nanotechnology can be defined as the science of manipulating matter at the nanometer scale in order to discover new properties and possibly produce new products. For the past 30 years, a considerable amount of scientific interest and R&D funding devoted to nanotechnology has led to rapid developments in all areas of science and engineering, including chemistry, materials, energy, medicine, biotechnology, agriculture, food, electronic devices, and consumer products. In the U.S. alone, the federal government has spent more than $22 billion in nanotechnology research since 2001. Already some products have appeared in the marketplace and more will certainly come in the future. A possible concern is the health, safety, and environmental impact of some of these products. Many of the opportunities and challenges of nanotechnology are described in the following chapters. This chapter serves as an overview and aims to summarize the key information reported in those chapters.