A nanostructure is a very small structure that has at least one dimension on the nanometer scale. Nanostructures are found in nature, but they can also be made by humans using various techniques. Nanostructures have unique properties that make them useful for a variety of applications.
Nanostructures occur naturally in many different forms. For example, viruses are nanostructures that can infect cells and cause disease. Buckyballs are another type of nanostructure that occurs naturally; they are made up of carbon atoms and have been found in space. Some minerals, such as gold and silver, also form into nanostructures called nanoparticles.
Humans have been making nanostructures for centuries, although we did not know it at the time. In the early 1800s, a scientist named Michael Faraday discovered that when he applied electricity to certain materials, they formed into very thin wires just a few atoms wide—these were some of the first man-made nanostructures! In the early 1900s, another scientist named Richard Feynman proposed the idea of building devices on the atomic scale; this eventually led to the development of technologies like scanning tunneling microscopes and atomic force microscopes, which allow us to see and manipulate individual atoms.
The unique properties of nanomaterials arise from their small size. Because they are so small, nanoparticles have a large surface area compared to their volume; this allows them to interact with their surroundings in novel ways. Nanoparticles can absorb light differently than larger particles; they can also conduct heat and electricity better than larger particles (because there is less distance for these things to travel through), and they can act as catalysts (which means they speed up chemical reactions without being used up themselves). All of these properties make nanoparticles attractive for use in many different fields, including medicine, energy storage, environmental cleanup, and manufacturing.