Question: What is nano-science used for?

Hugh Manning answered on 12 Nov 2018:

Nanoscale structures have existed in nature long before scientists began studying them in laboratories.A single strand of DNA, the building block of all living things, is about three nanometers wide. The scales on a morpho butterfly’s wings contain nanostructures that change the way light waves interact with each other, giving the wings brilliant metallic blue and green colours. Peacock feathers and soap bubbles also get their beautiful colours from light interacting with structures just tens of nanometers thick.

Nanoscience is used for a huge amount of things.
In everyday materials there are nanoscale coatings on glasses and phone screens to prevent scratching or help them repel water or be self cleaning.

In chemical reactions, nanomaterials are used as catalysts (this means they help with the reaction but they don’t get used up in the process)

The computer processors in computers and phones have gotten smaller and smaller through nanotechnology, at the moment transistor sizes are approaching 7 nanometers and they are getting smaller and smaller! The memory storage devices are also made using nanoscience, that’s why we can store more and more information on usb chips and solid state drives.

This website is a fantastic resource for how nanoscience is used in many many applications!

https://www.nano.gov/you/nanotechnology-benefits

Some of these I didn’t even know about, which one is your favourite?