Page 17 - Environmental Nanotechnology Applications and Impacts of Nanomaterials

Chapter
1

Nanotechnology and

the Environment

Mark R. Wiesner Duke University, Durham, NC
Jean-Yves Bottero CNRS-University of Aix-Marseille,
Aix-en-Provence, France

Advances in information technologies, materials science, biotechnology,
energy engineering, and many other disciplines—including environmen-
tal engineering—are converging at the quantum and molecular scales. This
molecular terrain is common ground for interdisciplinary research and edu-
cation that will be an essential component of science and engineering in
the future. Much like the digital computer and its impact on science and
th
technology in the 20 century, the tools that serve as portals to the molec-
ular realm will act as both instruments of discovery and rallying points
for social interaction between researchers from many disciplines. In this
setting, environmental engineers and scientists will take on new roles in
collaborating with materials scientists, molecular biologists, chemists,
and others to address the challenges of meeting society’s needs for energy
and materials in an environmentally responsible fashion.
Nanotechnology is defined as a branch of engineering that deals with
creating objects smaller than 100 nm in dimension. Behind this defini-
tion is a vision of building objects atom by atom, molecule by molecule [1]
by self-assembly or molecular assemblers [2]. Activities spawned by a
“nanomotivated” interdisciplinarity will affect the social, economic, and
environmental dimensions of our world, often in ways that are entirely
unanticipated. We focus here on the potential impacts of nanomaterials
on human health and environment. Many of these impacts will be ben-
eficial. In addition to a myriad of developments in medical science, there

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