nano tech
talk|10 jan 2013|talkmag.in
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The science of small things Bangalore is pioneering nanotechnology research in India, and will be testing some new devices this year
PRASHANTH GN prashanth.gn@talkmag.in
his is what we hear about when we talk nanotech: tiny robots that travel through the bloodstream and clear clogged arteries, wonder materials like graphene that are as thin as paper but 100 times stronger than steel, advanced research centres on the brink of breakthroughs... Academic excitement around nanoscience has been around for a while. And we have heard some marketing noise around ‘silver nano particles’ and the odd ‘stain resistant shirt’, not to mention controversies over toxic ‘nanoparticles’ in cosmetics. Even that has now faded away, leaving the question of whether the institutional buzz is really leading to viable products. If this is a debate in the West, much further along the road, what is the state of Bangalore and its many nanoscience research centres? Dr VK Aatre, former head of defence research and scientific advisor to the defence minister, says work being done here is academically sound, but actual technology development is relatively slow. By the end of the year, Bangalore is likely to produce at least two products in bio-medicine and automobile engineering. Tests and trials are underway. “We need to give the groups in Bangalore a little time,” he
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What is Nano:
Nanoscience, we know, is the science of the very small. How small is small? A human hair is one micron, or one micrometre thick. A micrometre is one millionth of a metre. (It will take a million
JUNIOR DOC Artist’s impression of a ‘nanobot’, a molecular robot that can repair damaged cells
told Talk. One of the products that Aatre is referring to as nearing fruition is a ‘nano-sensor’ to monitor pressure within the skull in patients undergoing treatment for brain injury. The National Institute of Mental Health
pieces of hair laid alongside to get to a metre.) A nanometre is one thousandth of a micron. Or in other words, one billionth of a metre! Now we are at the molecular level. A molecule of any material is made up of
and Neurosciences in Bangalore will soon test these sensors. The nanoscale device has been developed indigenously and collaboratively by the Indian Institute of Science’s Centre for Nanoscience and Engineering, Nimhans, and the
two or more atoms. Subatomic particles are of course even smaller. A pair of molecules making up a human DNA may be a couple of nanometres in size. Nanoscience therefore, studies materials and their reactions at the
Defence Bio-Engineering and Electro Medical Laboratory, attached to the Defence Research and Development Organisation. Dr P Satish Chandra, Director and Vice-chancellor of Nimhans, told Talk the institute was ready for trials
molecular level. Nanotechnology and nanoengineering work with these very small units and manipulates them to create functional systems and new materials of various kinds for diverse applications.