If you are unable to fathom that description, don’t feel left out. A recent
survey by the Royal Society found that only 29% of the general population have
heard of nano-technologies, let alone fully comprehend what is involved.
To put it on a more understandable level, recent developments in nanotechnology—in
which Switzerland was the source—have enabled nanoscientists to actually
see atoms, the molecular foundation upon which all matter, including our own
bodily cells, are based. Imagine looking through a microscope and seeing the
atomic structure of, say, a piece of wood or a grain of sand or a tissue of human
skin. Although, in truth, it isn’t quite that simple a procedure, the end
result is exactly that—you see atoms.
To find out more about this astounding field of science and the implications
it has—and will have—on our lives, I spoke with Prof Dr Hans-Josef
Hug, a youngish and enthusiastic 41-year-old physicist at the University of Basel,
who also works as a nanoscientist in discovering and developing ways in which
nanotechnology can be applied on a practical basis in our everyday lives.
Prof Hug, how do you define “nanotechnology”
and what role does your work play in this field?
There are many definitions, but it is basically the design, characterization,
production and application of systems by the control of the shape and size
on a nanometre scale. This goes back to nanoscience, which is the study of
phenomena and manipulation of materials on the atomic and molecular scale.
In other words, nanotechnology makes use of nanoscience.
Some people mix the two terms, but that is wrong—they are two distinct
fields of work. Nanoscience is the “curiosity” part of the field,
ie Why does it work? How does it work? How can I change it? Nanotechnology,
on the other hand, is more to do with: What can I do to put this to use in
developing practical applications? How can I manufacture this on a large
scale?
I am a physicist by training and my background is in instrumentation; I did
a lot of designing and improving of nano-based instruments. I began working
in nanotechnology as a PhD student at the University of Basel in 1988 and
am now affiliated with the University’s National Centre for Research in Nano Scale
Science. I also work with EMPA, the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials
Testing and Research in Dübendorf, where I work in developing new nano-materials
such as scratchproof transparent coatings, ultra-hard coatings and nanoparticles
that could be used to reinforce polymers.
I would say that I spend approximately 70% of my pro-fessional working life
as a nanoscientist (in my work with EMPA) and 30% as a nanotechnologist (lecturing,
etc at the University).
Why is Switzerland important in nanotechnology?
I would put the question another way: Why is nano-technology
important to Switzerland? In Switzerland, our standard of living
is based on knowledge and technology. We’ve always excelled
in these two areas. That basically means that for every new
technology that comes into existence, Switzerland has to consider
how to make money from it.
In the past we have missed a few things; for example, microtechnology, where
Switzerland plays only a marginal role, such as producing parts for watches,
etc. But the big money is earned in the States.
Nanotechnology is an emerging technology and Switzerland has a duty not to
miss all the opportunities connected with it. It is a technology where a few
well-trained people in a country with few natural resources can make a lot
of money, starting from basically nothing. What goes into it is not natural
resources, but your brain.
In fact, the beginning of nanotechology was invented here in Switzerland.
The instrumentation that gave us the first possibility to access matter on
a nanoscale—namely,
the scanning tunnelling microscope (STM) and the atomic force microscope (ATM)—was
invented in Switzerland. In 1986, the Swiss-based physicists Gerd Binnig
and Heinrich Rohrer, who both worked at the IBM Research Laboratory in Zurich,
shared half of the Nobel Prize for Physics for their invention of the STM.
This meant that Switzerland had an early start in the field.
So the basic instruments that are the “eyes” to see the nano-world
were invented in Switzerland. With these you can see atoms on a surface. When
I went to school, you were told, you can’t see atoms, but today, atoms
can be seen with many different instruments. With the computer-controlled
SPMs (scanning probe microscopes, the general name for these instruments)
you measure the interaction between a tiny tip and a surface, and view the
image on a computer screen.
It works much like if you were in a dark room and wanted to find a telephone
on a messy desk. What do you do? You use your hand and you “scan” the
desk surface to feel where the telephone is. In a similar way, that’s
what an SPM does—it scans the surface and measures the forces very
locally.
So you not only can see atoms, but you can move them around. You can build
something from single atoms—much like a child playing with building
blocks. You can arrange them in a single row or in a circle, and this changes
the physical state of the matter, ie it changes the properties of the material
but, of course, on a very local scale.
This raises the question:
How can nanotechnology be used?
I would put the question differently: Where can you make money
from nanotechnology? One way is from instrumentation—building
instruments so you can see matter on a nanoscale. That’s
one application.
Another application is to develop materials that have special
properties because they contain nanometre objects; for example,
dirt-resistant paint or highly scratchproof transparent coatings
for eyeglasses or windowpanes that always stay clean or even
textile fabrics that are completely stain-proof. Nature does
this already with the lotus plant, a plant with leaves that are
always clean. If you put dirt on them, you can simply wash it
away. Nature provides us the “lotus effect” and people can copy that and fabricate new
textiles using nanotubes (carbon tubes that are around one nanometre in diameter—or
20,000 times thinner than a human hair) on a commercially profitable scale.
These are just a few examples.
Medical applications are another field. There are two main areas here: diagnosis
and cure. In the first, there is development in what is called “rapid-bedside
diagnosis”, for example, where, instead of sending a blood sample to
a lab and waiting two days for the result, you use a nano-tech machine to
analyse the sample and get the results in two minutes. This is a dream at
the moment, but researchers are working on such tools and I would say that
new nano-based diagnostic techniques would be available within two to ten
years.
Much research is being done in the area of medical treatment and cure. As
one example, not all substances in your bloodstream can go into your brain.
There is a barrier in your body—a membrane—that filters out certain substances
and prevents them from reaching your brain. It is known, however, that nanoparticles
can go through that barrier. Now this may be dangerous but it also may be good.
For example, research is being carried out to develop nanoparticle-encapsulated
medication—to be taken orally—that would reach the brain (or
other parts of the body) to treat specific disorders that today require surgery,
for example, in cases of blood clots in the brain. The nanoparticles would
serve as the transport of the medicine so that it reaches the area where
treatment is needed.
Such treatment techniques are only partially available today, but it is only
a matter of time before the full beneficial advantages of this type of nano-based
medical care will be available—very definitely an important future
function of the practical application of nanotechnology and nanoscience.
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