Nanotechnologies for Design

G09 5

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Abstract

Nanotechnologies can be defined as “the design, characterisation, production and application of structures, instruments and systems, carried out by tuning shape and dimensions at the nanometric scale”. Nanostructured materials often present considerably innovative properties and characteristics (from various points of view, e.g. mechanical, electrical, magnetic…) with respect to the corresponding bulk materials, considered as structured at the macro or microscale. Nanotechnologies aim at consciously exploiting these new properties through the nanometric design of the material. Nanotechnologies involve a particularly wide and multidisciplinary field: indeed, nowadays the terms nanoelectronics, nanophysics, nanomedicine or nanomaterials are now more used. Nanotechnologies are in fact permeating all of the main scientific fields, and possible applications are almost unlimited. In the presentation the role of nanotechnologies in the design field will be analysed thoroughly, also thanks to a series of examples of nanotechnologies (e.g. Sol-gel, Plasma spray), as well as of properties which can be conferred to materials and products (self-cleaning, hydrophobicity, hydrophilicity, transpiration, antibacterial action, improvement of thermal insulation…) and some applications which already find place in the design field.