Applications

Applications include: medicine, composites, coatings, electronics, building materials, packaging, high performance materials, smart materials, fluidics, and micromachines. To be successful, the nantechnology must contribute something special and it must be mass produced on a large scale economically.

Nanotechnology is not especially new. For example, the fine particles of carbon black are really nanoparticles. Thus the use of carbon black in rubber technology is as old as the discovery of rubber. The Indians used to cure rubber over a smoky fire resulting in dispersed carbon black. Latex paint is another well established nanotechnology.

Each week, the US Patents and over 300 journals are scanned for items on nanotechnology applications. The latest findings are listed by week in Recent Applications given below. These links are, then, stored in topic pages in an encyclopedia also listed below in Applications Topics.

What's New

Reinforced Catheter Balloons

Jimenez of the Micrus Endovascular Corporation has developed a stronger balloon for angioplasty catheters based on a plastic material filled with carbon nanotubes, nanoclay platelets or nanoceramic fillers such as alumina nanofibers. (RDC 9/29/2008)

US Patent 7,419,633