Читать книгу Business Trends in Practice - Бернард Марр, Bernard Marr - Страница 30

Judging by the advances scientists are making with microorganisms, it's clear powerful things can come in very small packages. Let's shrink that down even further and take a quick look at nanotechnology and materials science.

In simple terms, nanotechnology means controlling matter on a tiny scale, at the atomic and molecular level, so that we can manipulate and move those atoms around to create new things. In this way, nanotechnology is a bit like construction, but on a tiny scale. And I do mean tiny. The nanoscale is 1,000 times smaller than the microscopic level and a billion times smaller than the typical world of meters that we're used to measuring things in. A human hair, for instance, measures approximately 100,000 nanometers wide. A strand of human DNA is just 2.5 nanometers wide.

Nanotechnology is important because, when we look at objects and materials at a nanoscopic level, we can understand more about how they work. (Some substances also behave differently and have completely different properties at an atomic level.) As an example, silk may feel incredibly soft and delicate to the touch, but at a nano level, it's made up of molecules aligned in cross-links, which is what makes it so strong. We can use knowledge like this to manipulate other materials at a nano level, to create super-strong, state-of-the-art materials like Kevlar, or products that are lighter, or any other conceivable improvement to products and components. This is where the technology bit of nanotechnology comes in – using our knowledge of materials at a nano level to create new solutions. In this way, the study of materials at a nano level could be considered almost a subfield of materials science, the discipline that focuses on studying and manipulating materials.

Those tiny computer chips and transistors that are behind the ubiquitous computing trend? They're built using nanotechnology and materials science. Same goes for lots of products and materials, from smartphone displays and lithium-ion batteries, to tennis balls and stain-resistant fabrics. And there are many more exciting new developments to come. In time, we can expect advances in nanotechnology and materials science to feed into many other technology trends already mentioned, including smart devices, smart cities, autonomous vehicles, and 3D printing. One example comes from the Jenax J. Flex foldable battery, which could pave the way for the bendable gadgets of the future.¹⁸

I'm particularly excited about the potential for nanotechnology and materials science to help mitigate the climate crisis. As an example, scientists at Toyota have been testing materials for a battery that can fully charge or discharge in just seven minutes, making it ideal for electric cars.¹⁹ Or consider perovskite solar cells, based on the properties of a light-sensitive crystal. Perovskite could improve the conversion efficiency of solar panels – how much captured sunlight can be turned into energy – from 16 percent to 66 percent.²⁰ Advances like this could make solar energy affordable and achievable for everyone, and it's just one of the many materials science breakthroughs that could make our world a better place. Which brings us neatly on to the next topic.