Nanotechnology

Nanotechnology is not just about the size of very small things, it is the revolutionary science and art of manipulating matter at the atomic or molecular scale. More important, it is about the structure and the ability of molecular compounds to "work". Research in areas related to nanomaterial is needed to develop manufacturing techniques. In particular, it is a synergy of top-down with bottom-up processes.

When matter is as small as 1 to 100 nanometers, many of its features will easily change and have many unique features both different from macro-matters and single atoms due to the quanta effect, regional confinement of matter, and huge surface or interface effects. The final objective of nanometer technology is to produce products of special functions with new physical and chemical features by making atoms, molecules and matters presenting their features directly in the length of a nanometer: the strength of ten times of iron could be very light, all information in a library could be stored in a chip the size of a sugar cube, and tumors the sizes of only several cells can be detected.

The US Business Weekly listed nanometer technology as one of the three key areas of work in the 21st century. From 1999, the US government decided to classify research in nanometer technology as one of the 11 key areas in the first ten years of the new century. In February 2000, US president Bill Clinton announced that the US Federal Government would invest 495 million dollars to set up a work group and put forth a research report promoting nanometer technology, with hopes that it will lead to the next industrial revolution.

Titanium dioxide's photocatalytic characteristics are greatly enhanced due to the advent of nanotechnology. At nano-scale, not only the surface area of titanium dioxide particle increases dramatically but also it exhibits other effects on optical properties and size quantization. An increased rate in photocatalytic reaction is observed as the redox potential increases and the size decreases. In some cases (such as with Envirocleans special composition) energy from any ambient light source can be used effectively as the energy source of photocatalysis instead of UV light.