Nanotechnology and Insect Pests Control

'Nano' means small, very small; but why is this special? There are various reasons why nanoscience and nanotechnologies are so promising in materials, engineering and related sciences. First, at the nanometre scale, the properties of matter, such as energy, change. This is a direct consequence of the small size of nanomaterials, physically explained as quantum effects. The consequence is that a material (e.g. a metal) when in a nano-sized form can assume properties which are very different from those when the same material is in a bulk form. For instance, bulk silver is non-toxic, whereas silver nanoparticles are capable of killing viruses upon contact.

Autorentext

Profesor asociado Mohamed Abdel-Raheem Ali Abdel-Raheem; Licenciado, Máster y Doctor; profesor asociado de Entomología, Departamento de Plagas y Protección Vegetal, Centro Nacional de Investigación, El Cairo, Egipto.