Why focus on molecular manufacturing?

Every manufacturing method is a method for arranging atoms. Most methods arrange atoms crudely; even the finest commercial microchips are grossly irregular at the atomic scale, and much of today's nanotechnology faces the same limit. Chemistry and biology however, make molecules defined by particular arrangements of atoms – always the same numbers, kinds, and linkages. Chemists use clever tricks that do not scale up well. Biology however, uses a more powerful method: cells contain molecular machines that read genetic data to guide the assembly of large molecules (proteins) that serve as parts of molecular machines. Molecular manufacturing will likewise use stored data to guide construction work done by molecular machines, greatly extending abilities in nanotechnology.

The molecular assembler concept

The basic idea is simple: where chemists mix molecules in solution, allowing them to wander and bump together at random, molecular assemblers will instead position molecules, bringing them together to the specific location at the desired time. Letting molecules bump at random leads to unwanted reactions – a problem that grows worse as products get larger.

By holding and positioning molecules, assemblers will control how the molecules react, building up complex structures with atomically precise control. Picture an industrial robot arm standing next to an unfinished work piece. A conveyor belt supplies the arm with parts, each mounted on a handle. Step after step, the belt advances, the robot grips a fresh handle, plugs the attached part into the work piece, then puts the empty handle back on the belt. Eventually, the work piece is finished and another belt moves it away, shifting a new unfinished work piece into place.

To picture a molecular assembler in a manufacturing system, imagine that all the parts are measured in nanometers, and that the transferred parts are just a few atoms, shifting from handle to work piece through a chemical reaction at a specific site. An assembler works as part of a larger system that prepares tools, puts them on the conveyor, and controls the robotic positioning mechanism.

This will be a complex system that no one will build any time soon. Indeed, no one is even trying to build molecular assemblers today, because nanotechnology is still in its infancy. We can see a path to assemblers, just as the rocketry pioneers of the 1930s and 1940s could see a path to the Moon. But like those pioneers, we are not ready to attempt the final goal. They knew they must first launch many satellites, just as we must first build many molecular machines.

THE FUTURE OF NANOTECHNOLOGY

Confusion and controversy: Developing assemblers

While nano assembly has been described as "building things atom by atom," an expression that has caught on in the press, this is a misconception. Molecular assemblers will build with atomic precision by mechanically guiding chemical reactions that typically add a few atoms at a time, but some researchers have criticized this misconception as if it were the actual proposal.

It is correct that assemblers cannot build things by using tiny tweezers to pick up and put down atoms one at a time, but even from the start this was never the idea. The apparent controversy over "molecular assemblers" is thus an illusion: the critics are talking about something else. The idea of building things by mechanically guiding chemical reactions has withstood scientific scrutiny for over twenty years, and seems sound. It is time to move on, to consider the consequences of molecular assemblers and what they will be able to build.

Understanding advanced capabilities

One can catch a glimpse of future technologies because it is possible to understand things that we can't yet build.Chemistry, biology, engineering, and applied physics all provide useful perspectives. Chemistry shows what can happen when reactive molecules meet. By using molecular machinery to guide reactive molecules, similar structures can be built at larger scales.

The products can be stronger, tougher, and more capable than the delicate structures found in living cells.

Biology shows that molecular machines can exist, can be programmed with genetic data, and can build more molecular machines. Biology shows that the products of molecular machine systems can be as cheap as potatoes. Molecular manufacturing will make a far wider range of products for similarly low costs.

These glimpses of future technologies are enough to establish the potential for molecular manufacturing. Engineering shows that strong, precise parts can be combined to make computers, robots, and a host of useful gadgets.Applied physics, aided by computer modeling, shows that these sorts of devices can be built from atomically precise parts of nanometer scale.

Directions and applications

Molecular manufacturing will bring both great opportunities and great dangers. Nanocomputers will extend desktop computational power by a factor of a billion or more. Nanoscale sensors, computers, and tools will bring surgical control to the molecular level, enabling a revolution in medicine. Light, strong, and inexpensive aerospace structures will make space flight easy. But the future's faster, cheaper, cleaner production of better products will also bring disruption. Advanced lethal and nonlethal weapons, deployed quickly and cheaply, could make the world a more dangerous place. The list of consequences is long.

THE FUTURE OF NANOTECHNOLOGY

The tools required to develop nanotechnologies are typically small and unobtrusive. The pace of research is accelerating worldwide. Some suggest stopping it, but it is hard to imagine how. Thus, it seems that this technology, with all its challenges and opportunities, is an unavoidable part of our future. Industry can cooperate with governmental and educational institutions, professional societies and standards organizations to (a) focus research priorities appropriately, (b) ensure adequate training of scientists, engineers, and technologists, (c) address public safety and environmental concerns, and (d) address national security concerns. Policy formulation will be an ongoing challenge, although new tools can improve the process of critical discussion and debate.

Within a few decades, healthcare will be revolutionized by combining nanotechnology with biotechnology to produce ingestable systems that will be harmlessly flushed from the body if the patient is healthy but will notify a physician of the type and location of diseased cells and organs if there are problems. Nanometer-scale traps will be constructed that will be able to remove pollutants from the environment and deactivate chemical warfare agents. Computers with the capabilities of current workstations will be the size of a grain of sand and will be able to operate for decades with the equivalent of a single wristwatch battery. Robotic spacecraft that weigh only a few pounds will be sent out to explore the solar system, and perhaps even the nearest stars.

The total societal impact of nanotechnology is expected to be greater than the combined influences that the silicon integrated circuit, medical imaging, computer-aided engineering, and man-made polymers have had in this (past) century." See what is Nanotechnology?

Which companies will adopt and grow with this new field? and which will be out-competed by new players?

Far from being a dream, nanotechnology will materially impact many of our economies largest markets during the next 10 years, and will be a common thread in many of the emerging businesses during this time.

While medicine will lag other industries due to the multi-year average time for new medical technologies to emerge from clinical trials, it may be the most profoundly impacted within the next two decades. The Nanohouse "Imagine windows that clean themselves. Or bathroom tiles that will not, and cannot, build up soap scum. Imagine piping sunlight around the house like water, or rolling on paint that can change colour whenever you want it Perhaps best of all, consider receiving a quarterly cheque from the electricity company because your house is producing more power than it is consuming." Brave New Nanoworld Aircraft wings made of lightweight, high-strength carbon nanotubes only a few billionths of a meter in diameter. Magnetic storage disks that could hold 100,000 times more data than current disks. These are some possible applications of new nanoscience research.

FUTURE APPLICATIONS

In the long term we can expect major applications in telecommunications, computing, pharmaceuticals, warfare and energy sectors. Nanotechnology could be harmful to the environment or could be of benefit – depending on the priorities for research and development that are now being decided by Governments and companies. Research indicates that the first products of nanotechnology are likely to be faster computers and diagnostic aids in medicine.

It is hard to predict what products will move from the laboratory to the marketplace over longer periods, but it is believed that nanotechnology will facilitate the production of ever-smaller computers that store vastly greater amounts of information, and process data much more quickly than those available today. Computing elements are expected to be so inexpensive that they can be in fabrics (for smoke detection, for instance) and other materials. The pharmaceutical and chemical industries are being impacted greatly by nanotechnology.

New commercial applications of nanotechnology that are expected in two to five years in these and other industries include:

•Advanced drug delivery systems, including implantable devices that automatically administer drugs and sensor drug levels;

•Medical diagnostic tools, such as cancer tagging mechanisms and lab-on-a-chip, real time diagnostics for physicians;

•Cooling chips or wafers to replace compressors in cars, refrigerators, air conditioners and multiple other devices, utilizing no chemicals or moving parts;

•Sensors for airborne chemicals or other toxins;

•Photovoltaics (solar cells), fuel cells and portable power to provide inexpensive, clean energy, and

•New high-performance materials.

ANTICIPATED FUTURE OPPORTUNITIES

Nanotechnology predictions

Things that become practical with mature Nanotechology

•Nearly free consumer products

•PC's billions of times faster then today

•Safe and affordable space travel

•Virtual end to illness, aging, (and theoratical even death)

•No more pollution and automatic cleanup of existing pollution

•End of famine and starvation

•Superior education for every child on Earth

•Reintroduction of many extinct plants and animals

•Terraforming Earth and the Solar System
Above current and future nanotechnology industry applications can be summerised as follows: table1
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PRESENT INDUSTRY STATUS SRI LANKA

It is certain that nanotechnology is set to revolutionise science and technology as we know of it today though acquisition of nanotechnology in our industrial sector is currently at the zero baseline. Yet, if our products are to compete with those produced in our competitor countries, we can not escape from the current trends in product development, i.e., nanotechnology.

Sri Lanka is gifted with many natural resources, including a wide range of endemic flora and fauna. Sri Lanka is also reasonably endowed with industrial minerals such as apatite, calcite, dolomite, quartz, feldspar, mica, graphite, ilmenite, rutile, zircon and secondary weathering products like laterite, kaolin, clay and silica sand. Except for graphite, apatite and mineral sands which are under state control, the mineral industry is handled mostly by the private sector. Our graphite is 99+% pure carbon, while the quartz we have is more than 99% pure silica. The Eppawela apatite resource is yet another heritage we have. Time has come for us to rethink on the effective and sustainable use of our resources keeping in mind not to exhaust all what we have within our lifetime. Most attractive way out would be to go for advanced materials, devices and new products. For example, the quality of raw materials for the local clay based industries are:

•Pottery, tile and brick, cement etc, which use low grade high iron clays,

•Ceramic and porcelain industry using high grade low iron clays,

•Industries such as tire re-treading, paint, paper, pencil etc. where clays are used as inert fillers/pigments,

•Few other industries with specialized uses, e.g. Asbestos, pharmaceuticles.

There are however, many other types of clay minerals in nature and of these the so-called expanding or swelling clays have a number of interesting chemical and physical properties which in turn offer many potential industrial uses. Exploitation of such clays for industrial processes is gaining currency in developed countries. In Sri Lanka, however, probably due to the fact that no deposits have been identified, little thought has been given to this possibility. Preparation of high-tech ceramics from our local minerals is another area to be exploited. The nanoparticles of these materials would combine all the advantages associated with high surface area to volume ratio and improve activities. The most exciting application of new ceramics is in heat engines such as the advanced gas turbine and the turbo-compound diesel engine. The main attraction of ceramics in heat engine applications is the ability to operate at higher temperatures without forced cooling. This results in a greater efficiency, and hence reduces fuel consumption. Ceramic seals are currently being manufactured world wide in large quantities in different sizes, types and shapes.
