The human race has made great strides in scientific discovery over the past three centuries. Our knowledge of the world around us has been increasing at astronomical rates, with more scientific knowledge created in the past decade than in all of human history (Kaku, 4). Centuries ago, Isaac Newton discovered the basic mechanics of the physical world, and from those discoveries came the industrial revolution and the steam engine. This reshaped the world by overturning the agrarian society and making way for a society that had advanced commerce and factories. By the time the nineteenth century had arrived science and medicine were at a level where they were drastically helping people out of poverty and ignorance, enriching lives and moving society away from feudal dynasties, fiefdoms, and empires of Europe (Kaku 4). While Newton's discoveries gave us much understanding even up to an enourmous scale (the cosmic laws that describe the motion of planets and moons), much needed to be understood on a smaller scale.
The twentieth century marked the beginning of this in-depth look into the nature of the matter that surrounds us. In 1925, the quantum theory was created by Erwin Schrodinger, Werner Heisenberg, and others resulting in an enormous amount of scientific discovery. A new era had been achieved in science, an era in which we now pretty much understand the basic laws governing "matter, life, and computation" (Kaku 5). A talk given by physicist Richard Feynman at an American Physical Society meeting at Caltech on December 29, 1959, marked one of the first occasions in which the ideals of nanotechnology were discussed. Feynman spoke of the possibilities of manipulating individual molecules and even atoms. He spoke of how nature is composed of biological systems that are very small: tiny cells able to store information, manufacture substances and do all kinds of things. Imagine, he said, the "possibility that we too can make a thing very small which does what we want―that we can manufacture an object that maneuvers at that level!" (Feynman). This marked the realization in the scientific community that machines could be made at the atomic level, and could have features like pulleys, levers, and wheels. These were well within the realms of physics, just very difficult to make on such a small scale. He also pointed out the importance of making smaller computers –at the time computers filled up a whole room. These basic points that Feynman talked about remind us that very important advances in each of the areas of today's modern science will come from discoveries made at very small scales. One problem Feynman pointed out was that there was no way to see things this small―the microscopes of the time were not sophisticated enough. Due to a lack of technology, nanotechnology languished for many years and was mainly an area of much discussion but little action.
In 1981 scientists made a huge breakthrough with the invention of the scanning tunneling microscope, which won the Nobel Prize in Physics for scientists Gerd Binnig and Heinrich Rohrer working at the IBM lab in Zurich, Switzerland. For the first time in history scientists were able to see and manipulate atoms. Scientists spelled the letters "IBM" with atoms. The technology has progressed to a point where today one can basically sit at a computer, with a cluster of atoms displayed on the screen, and move atoms around simply by moving the cursor. Scientists created an atomic-scale abacus. By creating an array of atoms on a surface with vertical slots, Buckyballs (shaped like a soccer ball and made of 20-100 carbon atoms) are placed in the slots, and can be moved up and down to create the abacus. Also, recently scientists at Cornell University made the world's smallest guitar, it is about twenty times smaller than a human hair (Kaku 31). So far machines made via nanotechnology are just toys like these. However, scientists are confident that the time is coming in which we will produce useful machines at the atomic level. Nature mastered the art of atomic machines billions of years ago. A cell can swim in water because of little wiggly hairs - the joint between the hair and the cell is actually an atomic machine allowing it to move in all directions. Today scientists are using nature as a model by which to develop atomic machines (Kaku 32). However, nanotechnology does not only encompass the manufacture of small atomic machines, but of any scientific endeavor which delves deep into the atomic realm, and seeks to manipulate the atoms and molecules of to create new materials that have a wide variety of uses. It is with these new abilities that we will progress into the next era of science, an era in which we will begin to move from understanding the world around us to controlling it. As Michio Kaku says, "...we are on the cusp of an epoch-making transition, from being "passive observers of Nature to being active choreographers of Nature." (Kaku 5) This transition is happening as the pillars of science (computer, biomolecular, quantum) are all feeding off each other to create some of today's most remarkable scientific technologies. One of the most significant issues that the study of nanotechnology will help with is one of the greatest dilemmas of our time: the search for a clean, renewable energy source.
As we move farther into the future, we also move deeper and deeper into a need for more and more energy. It is no coincidence then that more and more scientists are doing research to solve this problem; research that includes many developments at the nano level. "The Western World" and "Developed Countries" as we call them, have set a standard that includes industrialization, consumerism, modern transportation, health care, and luxuries that all require us to produce massive amounts of energy. The rest of the world, for the most part, seems to be heading down the same path. The are only a few countries that are energy independent, or in other words, produce their own energy. The United States for example, has to import a huge portion of it's oil from other countries to sate it's energy needs. As the year comes to an end, this situation has put an additional strain on an already bad situation. As gas and other prices soar, the economy of the Unites States plunges deeper and deeper into recession. Due to these coinciding crises, one of the largest concerns in politics and of scientists today has to due with solving this desperate problem not only for the Unites States, but for all countries that require loads of energy to maintain their standards of living. Population continues to soar up into the billions as modern man consumes more and more energy per individual. Today each person uses approximately 3.5 times the energy used by a person in the industrial ages . The overwhelming majority of energy (77%) is used by the developed countries which make up only 28% of the population (“The Secret Lives of Engergy”). However, the developed countries are also leading the world in progress with scientific technology, such as new nanotechnologies that will eventually aid this issue. It should be noted that even just changing our habits and using conservative techniques would lead to a great deal of energy conservation without new technology. On the other hand, there is no way to guarantee that people will alter their behavior, so it is important that we look at the sources and methods we use to derive energy, and modify them appropriately. We need to do this not only so that we can become energy independent and energy efficient, but also because the dirty methods we use now poison our environment as well as ourselves. Solar technology, among other sources, is thought of by many scientists to be the energy source of the future. Lead author and Professor Keith Barnham of Imperial College London says (with regards to the UK's decision to allocate more funds to nuclear over solar research): "The UK is clearly taking a very different decision to its industrial competitors and, I believe, a less sensible one. The sun is our largest sustainable energy source and the technology needed to tap into it is very simple. As research continues, this will become an increasingly cheap and efficient way of meeting our energy needs." (“Think Solar Not Nuclear”). Michio Kaku is also a famous futurist, aside from what is mentioned above. In his book Visions he says that, to be able to sustain their enormous energy needs, advanced civilizations in the future will have to eventually learn to master the art of deriving energy from their sun. It is no surprise then that in both of his books that talk of the future, Visions and Physics of the Impossible, Kaku dedicates significant sections to developments in nanotechnology. The amount of energy that reaches Earth from sunlight in one hour could support world energy needs for a year if it could be totally harnessed. The solar cells we build in the future need to be made cheaper and more efficient to be competitive with the other energy sources we use today such as fossil fuels―new nanotechnologies will offer a variety of ways to do this .
The ultimate goal for researchers developing nanotechnology for solar cells is to develop a better and more efficient solar cell that will convert as much sunlight to electricity as possible. The race is on, and scientists are coming up with new ways to achieve this goal, bit-by-bit, by using nanotechnologies. Researchers at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, led by Munir Nayfeh, found that by integrating a layer of high quality silicon nanoparticles of 2.85 nanometers in size directly onto a silicon solar cell, improves efficiency 10% in the visible light range and 67% in UV range (“Silicon Nanoparticles”). According to Lisa Rengnath, a microsystems engineering student and worker at the Photovoltaic Lab at Colorado State University, thin-film technologies are another way that scientists are reducing costs of bulk material used. Efficiency is improved when stacking these thin film layers (Rengnath). Solar cells actually have already reached a level of efficiency that could be used to rival fossil fuels, the problem with this technology is their high cost. This is why developing technologies for thin-film cells (that use less material, hence lower cost) is so important. Scientists at Chalmers University of Technology in Sweden have shown that, "The electrons in nanoparticles of noble metal oscillate together apace with the frequency of the light. This phenomenon can be exploited to produce better and cheaper solar cells." (“Energetic Nanoparticles Swing”) By using nanoparticles of noble metal such as gold, the scientists have found that they can increase efficiency by laying a thin layer on the surface of the solar cell, as Nayfeh did, and also deep inside "via different mechanisms." (“Energetic Nanoparticles Swing”) Dr. Wayne Campbell and researchers in New Zealand at the Massey University’s Nanomaterials Research Centre have found an alternative to silicon-based solar cells using nanotechnology. They have developed a synthetic green dye closely resembling organic compounds in nature. This is one example of scientists mimicking nature via nanotechnology. With this method the cost of the solar cell would be a 10th of that attributed to silicon-based solar cell technology. Plus, "these cells will work efficiently in low diffuse light conditions,” Dr Campbell says (“Taking Nature's Cue”). Aside from the solar panels that collect the sunlight, there is also a need for somewhere to store it. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, which has said that, “an improved method for storage of electrical energy is one of the main challenges preventing the substantial installation of renewable energies such as wind and solar power." (“Breakthrough In Energy Storage”) Engineers and scientists at The University of Texas at Austin have developed a new technology that increases the amount of energy that can be stored in an ultracapacitor. Developments by these engineers at the nano-scale resulted in a one-atom thick structure called "graphene." Graphene sheets could be used to rapidly store electrical charge. The ability to store the electric charge with this method "could eventually double the capacity of existing ultracapacitors," compared to today's standards (“Breakthrough In Energy Storage”). Aside from ultracapacitors our other main method of storing electric charge is through batteries. The development of superior batteries is a critical issue regarding the development of clean, hybrid cars. Car emissions are a huge source of pollution and energy dependence, making them a major issue in the energy problem. It is no surprise then that scientists are using nanotechnology to develop the batteries of the future already.
There is no doubt that internal combustion engine cars contribute heavily to pollution, and thus the threat of global warming. It is estimated that 18% of our global carbon dioxide emissions come from cars (4 to 40). On top of that, energy-dependent countries such as the United States are at the mercy of volatile gasoline prices. In an already troubled economy, gas prices can make the situation that much more severe. This is obviously why there has been so much hype around developing hybrid cars that run off of a variety of new methods other than just gasoline alone. The most common now is the petroleum-electric hybrid car that utilizes an electric motor and has clever ways of conserving energy, such as recycling energy that come from braking (otherwise dissipated as heat from the brakes). The better the battery, the more energy recovered from braking. This fact has, of course, spawned much research into batteries, and scientists are starting to create new technologies―new nanotechnologies. Batteries power so many devices that are mandatory in our daily lives including automobiles. We wake up in the morning and use our electric toothbrush and electric razor. We get in our car and drive to work. We take a call on our cell phone. Even our military's missile-guidance systems need batteries. All these devices would be improved with a better energy supply. Yet all of these devices have been running off batteries that haven't changed much since they were first invented by Alessandro Volta in the 19th century (“Battery History”). Well that was the case, until now. MIT's Laboratory for Electromagnetic and Electronic Systems (LEES) has been doing work that shows the first significant and economically viable improvement in batteries in a couple hundred years. Their discovery actually is a breakthrough in ultracapacitors which store energy as an electric field. They are more efficient than batteries, but the problem has always been that they must be much bigger in size to store the same electric charge. If ultracapacitors could be made smaller, like batteries, they could be the answer to many of the issues involving the batteries in hybrid cars―this is where nanotechnology comes in. MIT scientists Joel E. Schindall, the Bernard Gordon Professor of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) and associate director of the Laboratory for Electromagnetic and Electronic Systems; John G. Kassakian, EECS professor and director of LEES; and Ph.D. candidate Riccardo Signorelli made the breakthrough discovery of using carbon nanotubes in ultracapacitors. This was critical because storage capacity in ultracapacitors is proportional to the surface area of the electrodes. Today we use activated carbon electrodes which are very porous and have a large surface area. The problem with these is that the pores in the carbon have irregular sizes and shapes which reduces their efficiency. The ultracapacitors developed by LEES use vertically aligned nanotubes that have a regular shape, and have a very short diameter (just several atoms across). This new structure using nanotechnology results in a much more effective surface area and therefore a much more efficient device that can be made in sizes suitable for many commercial uses (sizes comparable to those that many batteries use). Professor Schindall says, "Nanotube-enhanced ultracapacitors would combine the long life and high power characteristics of a commercial ultracapacitor with the higher energy storage density normally available only from a chemical battery." (“MIT Researchers Fired Up”) Discoveries like these are like a breath of fresh air for modern society, which is now trying harder than ever to climb out of the hole filled with pollution and economic struggle that it has dug for itself.
It is clear now that the scientific race is on to develop new ways to harness and store energy. Our societies depend on it, the health of our planet depends on it, and the health of our people depends on it. Stanley Kubrick asked the brilliant physicist/futurist, Michio Kaku about what an advanced future civilization would be like, when coming up with the depiction of his alien race in the movie 2001: A Space Odyssey. Kaku told him that the world's top physicists categorize advanced civilizations into three categories (four including Type 0 which we are currently). Once a civilization is a type I it has harnessed control over it's planet and the planet's resources. Types II and III use exponentially more energy, and would require centuries to millennia of development in technology to harness control over their solar system and even galaxy. There is no doubt in scientists minds' that to eventually progress to a level of civilization like these (today only described in science fiction, yet a mandatory progression if our species is to survive), we first need to solve our energy problem because the only way to satisfy the energy needs of a type I, II, or III civilization is to harness the power of the stars (Kaku 324). The only way to develop these methods is through a thorough understanding of the materials of our universe, and that means complete control of matter even down to the atomic level―the level nanotechnology deals with. This may seem like a dream to our Type 0 civilization but the initial steps must be made, and those are happening largely impart due to advances in nanotechnology. By manipulating matter at the atomic scale, we are slowly moving away from being “passive observers” of nature, using clumsy traditional methods for societal function, to "active choreographers,” The energy problem is by no means the only subject that will greatly benefit from nanotechnology in the future. There is vast ocean of undiscovered nanotechnology that will be used in all fields of science. Some of the most interesting developments also will come in the biomedical, military, space travel, and commercial fields of science. Perhaps I will explore these topics later in my next research projects.
Works Cited
“Battery History” About.com. 1 Nov. 2008.
Chalmers University of Technology. "Energetic Nanoparticles Swing Sunlight Into Electricity." ScienceDaily 22 February 2008. 30 October 2008
Feynman, Richard. “Plenty of Room at the Bottom.” Information Technology Services. 16 Oct. 2001. California Institute of Technology. 29 Oct. 2008
Imperial College London. "Think Solar Not Nuclear For The Energy Of The Future, Say Scientists." ScienceDaily 6 March 2006. 30 October 2008
Kaku, Michio. Physics of the Impossible. New York: Doubleday, a division of Random House, 2008.
Kaku, Michio. Visions. New York: Anchor Books, a division of Random House, 1997.
Massey University. "Taking Nature's Cue For Cheaper Solar Power." ScienceDaily 6 April 2007. 30 October 2008
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. "MIT Researchers Fired Up About Battery Alternative: Nanotube Structures Key To Work." ScienceDaily 8 February 2006. 31 October 2008
“Percentage of Pollution by Cars.” 4to40.com. 1 Nov. 2008
Rengnath, Lisa. Personal interview. 10 October 2008
“The Secret Lives of Engery. The Energy Problem.” Community Science Action Guides. The Franklin. 29 Oct. 2008
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. "Silicon Nanoparticles Enhance Performance Of Solar Cells." ScienceDaily 21 August 2007. 30 October 2008
University of Texas at Austin. "Breakthrough In Energy Storage: New Carbon Material Shows Promise Of Storing Large Quantities Of Renewable Electrical Energy." ScienceDaily 17 September 2008. 31 October 2008
