Today at the White House, the President signed into law the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act, which authorizes funding for nanotechnology research and development (R&D) over four years, starting in FY 2005. This legislation puts into law programs and activities supported by the National Nanotechnology Initiative
(NNI), one of the President's highest multi-agency R&D priorities.
Nanotechnology offers the promise of breakthroughs that will revolutionize the way we detect and treat disease, monitor and
protect the environment, produce and store energy, and build complex
structures as small as an electronic circuit or as large as an airplane.
Nanotechnology is expected to have a broad and fundamental impact
on many sectors of the economy, leading to new products, new
businesses, new jobs, and even new industries.
Background on Today's Presidential Action
Nanotechnology is the ability to work at the atomic and molecular
levels, corresponding to lengths of approximately 1 -- 100 nanometers,
or 1/100,000th the diameter of a human hair. Nanotechnology is not
merely the study of small things; it is the research and development of
materials, devices, and systems that exhibit physical, chemical, and
biological properties that are different from those found at larger
scales.
Nanotechnology is one of the Administration's top multi-agency
research and development priorities.
In Fiscal Year (FY) 2004, the President requested $849 million
for nanotechnology R&D across 10 federal agencies--a 10% increase
over the amount requested in FY 2003.
Nanotechnology research has been a priority for the
Administration for the last three years. Overall funding for nanotechnology research has increased by 83% since 2001.
Nanotechnology promises to be both evolutionary and
revolutionary--improving and creating entirely new products and
processes in areas from electronics to health care.
Carbon nanotubes are essentially sheets of graphite rolled into
extremely narrow tubes -- a few nanometers in diameter. Because of their nanoscale size and excellent conductivity, carbon nanotubes are being studied as the possible building blocks of future electronic devices.
Nanotechnology may one day enable the detection of disease on the cellular level and the targeting of treatment only to tissues where it is needed in a patient's body, potentially alleviating many unpleasant and sometimes harmful side effects.
Nano-manufacturing of parts and materials "from the bottom
up"--by assembling them on an atom-by-atom basis--may one day be used to reduce waste and pollution in the manufacturing process.
Nanosensors already are being developed to allow fast, reliable, real-time monitoring for everything from chemical attack to environmental leaks.
Nanotechnology can help provide clean energy. For example, carbon
nanotubes are a form of nanomaterial with many potential applications.
Woven into a cable, carbon nanotubes could provide electricity transmission lines with substantially improved performance over current power lines.
Certain nanomaterials show promise for use in making more efficient solar cells and the next-generation catalysts and membranes that will be used in hydrogen-powered fuel cells.