Please enable JavaScript.
Coggle requires JavaScript to display documents.
SynBio + Nanotech #4 (Biocompatible Materials (Biology is good at…
SynBio + Nanotech #4
Nanomaterials
- Nanomaterials are chemical substances/materials that are manufactured + used at a very small scale
- Nanomaterials include the lattice structures carbon nanotubes [CNTs] + graphene
- These are very strong, highly conductive and may be used as battery electrodes to increase efficiency + improve LED performance
-
- Graphene may one day also be used to make ultracapacitors [to replace some batteries] + to make thin or even spray-on solar cells + display screens [+ even display fabrics]
-
Biocompatible Materials
- Biology is good at rejecting foreign bodies [non-organic]
- A biomaterial is any substance that has been engineered to interact w/ biological systems
- Biocompatibility refers to the ability of a material to perform w/ an appropriate host response in a specific situation
- Need in medical applications for 'biocompatible':
-- Hip replacements, pacemakers, stents, dialysis
-- Brain connections, false limbs etc
- Carbon [+ other materials] can improve this
-
-
Bottom-Up: Self Assembly
- Self assembly is a form of bottom-up nanotech - or atomically precise manufacturing [APM] - in which nanoscale parts fit themselves together without the intervention of production tools
- SynBio can already self-assemble DNA chains
- We are also now learning how to read, cut + paste molecular chains using enzymes [bacterial molecular machines]
- Most likely way of this tech becoming more useful
- An advantage of using self assembly for biological materials is that they will degrade back into individual molecules that can be broken down by the body
Self-Assembly
- Some protein molecules - such as those in muscles - serve basic mechanical functions
- In time, protein engineers may use these to construct complex, nanoscale mechanical mechanisms using self-assembly methods
- While natural proteins are fragile, future synthetic alternatives may be able to self-assemble products from resilient materials like CNTs