Within the next five to 10 years, many biosensors will find routine, practical food-safety application, says Sundaram Gunasekaran of the University of Wisconsin-Madision.
Nanotechnology deals with “nanoscale” materials and structures, their synthesis and applications.
The tremendous advantages of nanotechnology stem directly from the unique characteristics exhibited by myriad materials when reduced to the nanoscale compared to their macroscopic counterparts. Some of the advantages include increased surface area-to-volume ratio and quantum effects that begin to dominate the behavior of matter. These factors can change and/or enhance material properties such as strength, reactivity, and electrical and optical characteristics, etc.