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Cover Picture: Nanotechnology: An Approach to Mimic Natural Architectures and Concepts (Adv. Eng. Mater. 5/2005)
Author(s) -
Gröning P. A.
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
advanced engineering materials
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Reports
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.938
H-Index - 114
eISSN - 1527-2648
pISSN - 1438-1656
DOI - 10.1002/adem.200590009
Subject(s) - nanotechnology , natural (archaeology) , applications of nanotechnology , materials science , engineering , archaeology , history
The lotus leaf's ability for self‐cleaning is considered as a model to produce dust‐ and dirt‐repellent surfaces, e.g. “anti‐graffitti” spray. This cover picture shows a water droplet condensing on the leaf surface and lifting up graphite particles (from ESEM in‐situ experiments). Further examples how researchers try to mimic nature are described in the article “Nanotechnology: An approach to mimic natural architectures and concepts” by P. A. Gröning on page 279. With the invention of the Scanning Tunnelling Microscope (STM) in 1981 by G. Binnig and H. Rohrer, the gate to the nanoworld was pushed open. The prospect to control matter and units on molecular and atomic level, inspired many scientists to think about new technological approaches – nanotechnology in the sense of Richard Phillips Feynman became reality. Thus, nanotechnology is not only the next step of the miniaturisation following microtechnology – nanotechnology is an approach to investigate natural architectures and to mimic them for technological problems. In the present article we try to show that nanotechnology is an evolutionary process of our technological society with the potential to solve everyday problems with revolutionary concepts and devices.