How Do We Define Nanotechnology?

Nanotechnology is defined as the design, characterisation, production and application of structures, devices and systems achieved by deliberately controlling their shape and size at the nanometre scale. Where nanoscience (Section 16.5.1) is the underlying study of how matter behaves at this scale, nanotechnology is the applied, engineering side of the same subject -- taking that scientific understanding and using it to deliberately build structures, devices or systems whose useful properties come specifically from having been shaped and sized at the nanoscale. This definition covers an enormous practical range, from individual nanoparticles and nanowires used as building blocks, through nanoscale coatings and thin films, to complete d …