The tiny particles that will change the world

At the end of a cinder block corridor on the 3rd floor of Columbia University’s science building, past piles of lab coats and tables with beakers, a graduate student sits before a screen connected to a large, beige machine. It may look like ‘90s technology, but don’t be fooled — this is one of the most advanced pieces of equipment in the world: an electron microscope. And here in the Gang Lab, it’s being used to research one of the most cutting-edge areas of science today. Nanomaterials.

I peer over the researcher’s shoulder, and the screen displays a small blob in scratchy black and white. A pointed tip descends from above, makes contact, and the blob smushes down before slowly bouncing back. “Are you... smushing nanoparticles?” I ask, wondering if that’s the technical term. “Yes,” she says with a laugh. And believe it or not, the results of this work, led by Dr. Oleg Gang, could revolutionize industries, economies, and global trade.

So What Are Nanomaterials?

A nanomaterial is a tiny particle, thousands of times smaller than a human hair, with special properties — whether it’s lightweight, strong, flexible, or having a massive surface area relative to its mass. Not everything contains nanoparticles; they’re not building blocks like atoms. But they were first postulated to exist in gold flakes. They were finally confirmed to exist in the 1930s with the advent of the electron microscope. Over the decades, scientists have gone from observing nanoparticles to interacting with them — designing, testing, and, yes, squishing them.

Why Are Nanomaterials Poised to Change the World?

While a single nanoparticle possesses special properties, billions of them together can bring these properties into the material world. For instance, a material five times lighter than steel, and four times stronger. This isn’t an abstraction. It’s one of the groundbreaking developments Dr. Gang and his team are pioneering at Columbia, in collaboration with Brookhaven National Laboratory.

At scale, such a material could revolutionize industries from automotive to construction, and more. For instance, consider the impact of having something like a cargo ship that is at once stronger and more lightweight; it could lead to safer journeys, less fuel use, and a longer time before it would need to be out for maintenance. Now, imagine that across every industry... the potential is enormous.

But obviously, nanoparticles are too small for a human to assemble individually, even if billions weren’t required. So Dr. Gang’s team is developing ways to program them to assemble themselves, like a billion-piece 3D puzzle that puts itself together. Not only that, but they are designing ways to make the assembly instructions responsive. For instance, if the particles encountered “X” they would switch to a “Y” assembly. Unlike most existing materials, the special properties of nanomaterials aren’t necessarily fixed either. They can be fluid, organic, and responsive.

From Research to Implementation

Dr. Gang’s work is at the frontier of nanomaterial science, focused on theory and experimentation. As these experiments progress, the technology will too, as researchers around the globe build on each others’ discoveries. Though it may take years for the most groundbreaking aspects to reach the public, nanotechnology is already in use in areas like solar energy, medicine, and even specialized jacket insulation.

According to Dr. Gang, whether its years or even decades down the road, “there is nothing that will not be affected.”

Click here to explore other angles with HSBC.