The growth and development of emerging technologies is driven to advance our global society and economy. Yet, history presents many salient examples that elicit concern over potential adverse consequences that can result from indiscriminate advancement. Nanotechnology is a current example and opportunity to demonstrate the utility of a proactive approach to sustainable material design. Discoveries of novel nano-scale phenomena motivated the rapid emergence and continued development of nanotechnologies, wherein engineered nanomaterials (ENMs) are incorporated into products to impart improved or novel functionality. There are an increasing number of ENM-enabled products being proposed and already on the market, serving industries that range from electronics to textiles to agriculture. While ENMs offer significant benefits in many of these applications, there are tangible concerns over the environmental and human health adverse consequences that could arise from their use and across their life cycle - from upstream production to end-of-life handling. This talk will introduce the sustainable nanomaterial design framework that underlies the research in my group and then will focus on a specific example of how we apply the framework to elucidate opportunities for tuning ENM properties in a way that controls their intended function while reducing potential for unintended consequences.

Designing sustainably at the nanoscale

2019 Fall National Meeting

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