Vaishali Gaikwad
Nanorods- The Golden Key to Future Development
Nanorods | Image Resource : nanopartz.com
Nanotechnology is a field that is developing with giant leaps, aided by research conducted by curious and skilled scientists who now seem to be generously funded by the government as well as private institutions. Nanoparticles often exhibit properties that vary greatly from their bulk companions. Minuscule rods of Nano size are a vital part of this industry. They are being widely harnessed for usage in various electronics in the display screens. They are usually minute particles of semiconducting materials or metals. Researchers have found wide usage in medical therapies recently too.
Synthesis of Nanorods
There are many methods of synthesizing, but the major and conventional ones are listed below.
Vapour Phase
This is a developed approach where the oxide of the required metal like zinc, copper, iron among the others is condensed carefully on a solid substrate. This vapour can be obtained by three methods- thermal evaporation, chemical reduction or vapour-liquid-solid reduction method. Each of these requires different procedures and catalysts, and once the vapour is obtained and condensed, the actual vapour phase procedure begins. It requires no catalyst and the product can be obtained quite quickly. This is preferred for metals, as obtaining the oxides is a very easy and fairly effortless process.
Seed Mediated Growth Method
This method is basically well suited for gold and is mainly used only for that metal. It produces high quality materials and is preferred for its ease. The gold nano spheres that are citrate capped are added as seeds to a solution of hydrogen, silver and chlorine combined in an appropriate composition. Though, the resulting chemical products require to be separated and cleaned, no other method offers such amount of quality and purity. So, for intense applications like high level research or medical purposes, there is no beating this process.
Cation Exchange
This is yet another quick approach where the exchange of cations yields swift results. This combats the disadvantages of most other techniques and is hence widely used in many laboratories.
Each of these promises a bright future of progress with its own set of merits and upsides. But of all the nanorods available that of gold are said to be the most promising one with chances of curing the monster of cancer and eradicating tumour from the living body. Though, experiments are still being conducted, experts in this field believe that there are excellent possibilities that might open up very soon and cause a revolution in the medicinal field.
Minuscle Rods of Nano size- The Future Life Savers
These are further sub-classified into:
Bare
These are prepared according to predefined standards set by the industry. They are completely purified when manufactured and are available in two different concentrations.
Conjugated Nanorods
They come with a protection layer for use in different environments of varying acidity. These nanorods are widely used in medical field as antibodies and in the field of dark image fielding.
Zero Order diagnostics
These are short covalent rods and find applications in the field of medicine and biomedical engineering.
Molecular Surface Modified
These, as the name suggests, have their surface layer of molecules altered for analytical and research purposes.
Rods Conjugated in Vivo
For applications where ultra-long circulation lines are a necessity, these polymers conjugated in vivo come in handy.
Now, these gold rods can act as absorbers of externally applied energy to kill the unhealthy cells in the human body. Tumours can be fought off easily by injecting these into the blood stream and applying energy to break down the affected cells that are causing cancer and tumour. In the near future, this is expected to take the full form of action and be actively launched in hospitals where cancer treatment is effectively offered across various parts of the world, starting out with major areas.
It can be seen that these particles are of immense importance to the human race and contain unharnessed potential that will be uncovered in the many years to come. Nanotechnology is indeed going to be the technology of the future, ruling over every industry with its varied and flexible applications as well as ease in production.