By Dr. Elammaran Jayamani
Nanomaterials applications and nanotechnology are revolutionizing everyday products, from smartphones to sunscreen, while driving sustainable innovation across industries.
Your smartphone keeps getting thinner, your sunscreen protects better than ever, and your workout clothes somehow never smell. What do these everyday improvements have in common? They’re all powered by nanomaterials applications – materials so small that millions could fit on the tip of a needle.
With climate change reshaping how we think about resources and energy, these tiny materials are emerging as unexpected heroes in our fight for sustainability. Moreover, nanotechnology everyday products are quietly revolutionizing industries while helping us meet global environmental goals. Yet they often fail to make the headlines.
What are Nanomaterials and Why Do They matter?
So, what are nanomaterials? To understand how small we’re talking, imagine this: if a nanomaterial were the size of a marble, a marble would be the size of Earth. These are the building blocks of materials of this decade. They have set materials science on a new path for re-engineering at the tiniest scale. Often, this scale is much smaller than a virus – the realm of nanotechnology.
Nanomaterials applications have unlocked a smarter, greener and more powerful way for material production. In fact, many everyday nanotechnology products are already in use – often without us realizing it.
Nanomaterials Applications in Everyday Products
For example, the UV sunscreen that you apply to your skin has nano-sized particles that help provide superior UV protection through nanomaterials applications. Your gym clothes are another case. They are stain- and odour-resistant because researchers use proven nanotechnology techniques in textile production.
Nanomaterials applications are also used in cutting-edge electronics. They appear in AI-driven computers, smartphones, and modern home appliances. Ever noticed that your phones and laptops have gotten much sleeker over the years? You can thank nanoscale processing! Nano-scale processing of computer chips and other devices has enabled manufacturing at higher accuracies, creating a ‘space-efficient’ design.
This permits the precise housing of electrical components within the device that respond efficiently to electrical signals. This, in turn, allows them to perform much more efficiently than the existing mix of semiconductor-based microchips, which were generally much bigger than nanomaterials.
The exciting part is that most nanomaterials applications are still in their early stages and scientists are in a constant quest to make them work more efficiently. Researchers are conducting simulations, testing and inventing new methods to produce sustainable nanomaterials in cheaper, safer and more sustainable ways as possible.
How Nanocomposites Are Made and Used
Nanocomposites uses span across multiple industries. Nano-enhanced materials (called nanocomposites) are a class of nanomaterials which can be produced both in the lab as well as on an industrial scale with careful consideration to how they are made. They are predominantly made of nanomaterials (building blocks) combined with various other materials (of different sizes) that have been added to tailor specific nanomaterials applications.
There are multiple examples of nanocomposites uses, and the answer for why they are replacing conventional materials can be found in each of these applications.
But nanotechnology everyday products aren’t just making our gadgets better – In the area of food, drug and grain safety, packaging industry giants have switched to nano-enhanced plastics to store agricultural products for future consumption. The shelf-lives of certain dry foods can be vastly increased with these sustainable nanomaterials products.
This switch is mainly due to breakthroughs from researchers who succeeded in designing and fabricating nano-enhanced products that create a protective shield that prevents oxygen and moisture from getting to food, keeping them fresher for longer. However, achieving the challenge of stacking nanomaterials to improve oxygen and moisture barriers is still considered a remarkable scientific feat.
Nanotechnology Benefits in Healthcare and Medicine
Nanotechnology benefits are particularly evident in medical applications. In the field of medicine, nano-enhanced materials are used as coating agents on surgical devices for preventing bacterial growth. The thin layer of unreactive, nano-enhanced film presents itself as an invisible barrier that prevents bacteria from entering.
Here’s a fascinating scale comparison: a typical bacteria may range from 0.5 to 1 micrometre (1000 nanometres) in length. These nano-enhanced materials are much smaller and can be processed and stacked to create protective layers that prevent bacterial growth. Commercial surgical procedures such as dental implants and bone screws benefit from nanomaterials applications using bio-based nanomaterials, which are not only sustainable nanomaterials but also contribute to higher strength and reduce the human body’s rejection of implants.
Energy Storage and Battery Technology Applications
Technologies involving energy storage have also incorporated nanomaterials applications to investigate efficiency and performance compared to existing counterparts. Researchers discovered that qualities can be vastly increased by infusing nanomaterials into existing devices.
This led to novel nano-enhanced materials tailored for specific nanomaterials applications. They are currently used as electrodes in lithium-ion batteries for faster charging times and can hold more charges within the battery itself. Additionally, they are highly heat-resistant, and nano-enhanced separators prevent battery overheating – demonstrating clear nanotechnology benefits for energy storage.
Research and Development in Sustainable Nanomaterials
Our research into sustainable nanomaterials is more than just investigation into nano-scaled materials. It represents a holistic approach to developing new research frameworks that serve as pillars for future industrial research programmes.
This nanomaterials applications research addresses why this technology is necessary and how we should employ it to the fullest extent. This research framework brings together multiple scientific disciplines, each with specific objectives working toward creating sustainable nanomaterials that perform efficiently with consistent results.
While this research continues, manufacturing industries are evaluating plans to introduce large-scale manufacturing of nano-enhanced materials, transitioning laboratory investigations into commercial nanomaterials applications.
The Future of Nanomaterials Applications
The path for increasing prevalence of nanomaterials applications depends on government bodies and organisations aligning with future goals. Take Malaysia as an example of this global trend: the National Advanced Materials Technology Roadmap 2021-2030 provides a decade’s research into sustainable nanomaterials using naturally available domestic resources.
Being a resource-rich country, Malaysia plans to utilize local dolomite (currently used agriculturally) and graphene to improve polymer and rubber production. Meanwhile, educational institutes push innovation focusing on smart materials, chemical synthesis and cleaner energy, aligning with United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Nanomaterials applications research aligns with global goals for cleaner energy (Goal 7), greener technologies (Goal 9), and responsible consumption (Goal 12) for a fairer future. As researchers continue unlocking nanomaterials secrets, we stand at the edge of advancement that can redefine how humanity conserves, consumes and innovates with nanotechnology everyday products. These materials may be tiny in scale, but their impact will be massive on our future.
The opinions expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not reflect the view of Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak Campus. Assoc. Prof. Dr. Elammaran Jayamani is an Associate Dean, External Engagement and Impact, and Associate Professor at Swinburne’s Faculty of Engineering, Computing and Science. He is contactable at [email protected]