COIMBATORE: There is a great need to process nanoparticles as they still continue to be a challenge. This challenge has to be overcome so as to make them provide the usual applications we are looking for, V. S. Arunachalam, Chairman, Centre for Study of Science, Technology and Policy, said here on Friday.

Inaugurating a two-day international conference on “Synthesis, Characterisation, Consolidation, and Modelling of Nanomaterials” at the PSG College of Technology, he said the applications would be many as the size of the particle created a lot of imagination.

“It will require a lot of effort before we can start using nanomaterials in the real sense.”

Mr. Arunachalam said that consolidating nano-particles was also essential. Pointing out that explosive compaction was one of the methods to derive nanoparticles from the crystalline form of a material, he said however the results of this method was discouraging.

V.K. Aatre, Chairman, National Programme on Micro and Smart Systems, spoke on Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems (MEMS) and Nano-Electro-Mechanical Systems (NEMS) in Medicine and Biological Sciences.

Applications

He said there were potential applications of bioMEMS' sensors in diagnostics, drug delivery, health monitoring and surgery.

“Besides these, there are also other applications emerging such as point-of-care clinical diagnosis, neural probes, nerve regeneration, retinal implants and tissue engineering. However, certain challenges have to be addressed for its total applicability,” Mr. Aatre said.

C. Suryanarayana, Professor, University of Central Florida, the U.S., speaking on nanostructured materials, pointed out its uses.

Demand

With the rising demand for research on nanoparticles, the National Nanotechnology Initiative of the U.S. had earmarked $ 14 billion for the same.

Other countries were also investing heavily for the same purpose, he added.

G. Rangaswamy, Managing Trustee, PSG Institutions, presided, R. Rudramoorthy, Principal, and P. Gopalakrishnan, Head, Department of Metallurgical Engineering, of the college, spoke.

Courtesy - Hindu