ASTM Sets Nano’s First Standard Definitions
The most definitive document yet for setting a “common vocabulary” for the growing number of nanoscience-related disciplines has been published by the ASTM International. But, experts say the document will set some needed rules-of-the-road for the next-generation of multidiscipline nanoscience research.
The ASTM’s “Standard Terminology Relating to Nanotechnology” sets a standard definition from such common terms as aggregate, nano-, nanotechnology, nanoscale nanoparticle and even plain ol’ “particle.”
Contributors included: the American Institute of Chemical Engineers (AIChE); the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME); the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE); the Japanese National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology (AIST); NSF International; and Semiconductor Equipment and Materials International (SEMI).
Nano World News discussed the ASTM document with Dr. Lajos (Lou) Balogh, a leading contributor to the effort and Co-Director of NanoBiotechnology Center at the Roswell Park Cancer Institute in Buffalo, New York. The ASTM effort was led by Vicki Colvin, Professor of Chemistry and Professor of Chemical Engineering at Rice University.
The ASTM document (available here) comes after lengthy collaboration among a wide array of researchers in chemistry, physics, materials sciences, bio-nano and other areas.
“This [ASTM] work will be important because it will help put the growing number of nanoresearchers from different fields better communicate precisely with one another,” Dr. Balogh told NWN. “This clear communication will be especially important as researchers reach across disciplines to combine their expertise regarding different opportunities for using nanotechnologies to solve bigger problems.”
The ASTM document itself puts it this way:
As nanotechnology is a rapidly developing field, it will be necessary to continually reassess the terms and definitions contained in this standard, for purposes of revision when necessary. The intent of the terms and definitions in this standard is to describe materials containing features between approximately 1 and 100 nm and to differentiate those properties different from properties found in either molecules or the bulk (interior) of larger, micron-sized systems.
Dr. Balogh referred to his own experience at Roswell Park Center. At Roswell, researchers in biotechnology, medicine and materials sciences are all working together to examine how different approaches could be used to detect tumors or deliver cancer-fighting drugs. “In experiments, we have already seen how nanocoatings applied to different shaped-nanoparticles will react differently,” he said. In fact, in some experiments, Dr. Balogh’s colleagues have found that nanomaterials assembled into different 3-dimensional shared clusters will actually be attracted to different body organs – liver, heart, brain.
“This kind of research, where experts come together from different fields and can uncover something exciting and new is a good example of why these standard terminologies will quickly prove very useful and important,” Dr. Balogh predicted.
He points to another benefit from the document. “As the community grows, we also need ways to avoid confusion. Often, the same type of word may mean, or imply, different things to different experts.” The ASTM definitions standards will help avoid confusion, he added.
But nano-researchers shouldn’t get the idea that the document is complex or even very thick. At 6 pages total, Dr. Balogh jokes, “It’s really a very short document, but important. We are not looking to invent or re-invent any terms, but we are simply looking to put precise definitions on many [nano-related] terms used more and more often.”
The nanotechnology “Standard Terminology” document (ASTM E2456-06) falls under the jurisdiction of ASTM Committee E56 on nanotechnology and its Subcommittee E56.01, terminology and nomenclature. ASTM is an ANSI member, and an ANSI-accredited standards developer and a member of the ANSI Nanotechnology Standards Panel (ANSI-NSP).
