Jeremy J. Ramsden     The University of Buckingham

In the few years that have elapsed since the previous edition, there has been no landscape-changing event (comparable to, say, the first Apollo moon landing in the field of aeronautics and space). 2017 sees the world in a generally somber mood. Interest rates remain close to zero, reflecting an unusual investment landscape, in which traditional outlets such as real estate remain more popular than new manufacturing processes. Politically there is uncertainty, even chaos in many parts of the world: the European Union has suffered a seismic shock with the decision of the United Kingdom to leave it; in South America, the country with the world's largest oil reserves has a dysfunctional government and is on the brink of civil war, and in Brazil, the largest country, successive presidents are impeached for corruption. China is close to occupying a dominant position in many fields, and the effectiveness of its system of rule by decree can be seen, for example, in its good progress in combating pollution (compared with the EU system of “cap-and-trade”). The general preoccupation is with how to address the many existential challenges faced by the world. Energy policies are increasingly focused on electricity generation from the so-called “renewable” sources such as wind turbines and photovoltaic cells, to all of which nanotechnology is contributing, and perhaps most of all to the problem of mass storage—batteries are now the favored medium. There is continued progress in nanomedicine, now perceived as a more dynamic field than that of traditional drugs, although it is still tiny compared with the latter. Gains in healthcare are not keeping pace with the spread of the so-called “lifestyle diseases”, such as obesity and diabetes, and the expansion of morbidity that is coupled to increasing life-expectancy. Information technology is generally seen as the most successful new technology, and continuing progress in manufacturing precision has led to feature sizes on the newest generation of very large-scale integrated circuits of between ten and twenty nanometers. The commercial success of nanosized quantum dots, now mainly used for the manufacture of colored display screens, is assured by the seemingly insatiable demand for screen-based entertainment, which surely contributes to many physiological and neurological disorders. IT has indeed brought in enormous lifestyle changes.

The basic features of the nanotechnology industry remain more or less the same as those identified in the previous edition, hence the basic structure of the book remains the same, but the entire book has been revised to take account of advances. Chapter 5 has been renamed, completely rewritten, and given a more logical structure. The chapter on health (nanomedicine) has been greatly expanded; the previous sections on nanometrology and standardization, and the safety of nanomaterials, have been expanded into new chapters. There has been a notable increase in the amount of effort devoted to regulation of the industry. At the same time effort directed towards the distant goal of molecular manufacturing appears to have faltered; it has probably been overtaken by self-assembly and directed assembly approaches. Apart from semiconductor processing, the nanofacturing industry itself remains fragmented and still suffering from a lack of standards and effective trading mechanisms for raw materials such as nano-objects. All these trends are reflected in the revision.

It has become ever more apparent that nanotechnology is an omnidisciplinary realm and is not only the apotheosis of engineering achievement but also a strongly unifying influence in science.

June 2017