What is the Difference Between Nanomaterials and Nanoparticles

The key difference between nanomaterials and nanoparticles is that nanomaterials are materials with any internal or external structures on the nanoscale dimensions, while nanoparticles are nano-objects with three external nanoscale dimensions.

Nanotechnology is a recently developed science that has a variety of applications in different industrial fields. Nanomaterials and nanoparticles are two important and basic terms that are used in this technology.

1. Overview and Key Difference
2. What are Nanomaterials
3. What are Nanoparticles
4. Nanomaterials vs Nanoparticles in Tabular Form
5. Summary – Nanomaterials vs Nanoparticles

What are Nanomaterials?

Nanomaterials are materials with any internal or external structures on the nanoscale dimensions. These are materials that we can define as materials possessing, at minimum, one external dimension in the range of 1 – 100 nm. According to the definition of the European Commission, the particle size of at least half of the particles in the number size distribution of these materials must measure 100 nm or below.

These materials occur naturally and can be created as byproducts of combustion reactions. These materials can also be produced purposefully through engineering to perform a specialized function. Moreover, nanomaterials can have different physical and chemical properties that differ from their bulk-form counterparts.

There are a variety of uses of nanomaterials which varies from the healthcare industry to cosmetics and environmental preservation and air purification. For instance, the healthcare industry uses nanomaterials for drug delivery and other important roles. Similarly, in aerospace applications, carbon nanotubes are useful in the morphing of aircraft wings and in a composite form to bend in response to the application of an electric voltage.

A common type of nanomaterial is titanium oxide, which is a mineral nanomaterial that is useful in sunscreens. This is because it has poor stability that conventional chemical UV protection offers throughout a long term. Titanium oxide is able to provide improved UV protection and can remove cosmetically unappealing whitening that is associated with sunscreen in the nano-form.

What are Nanoparticles?

Nanoparticles are nano-objects with three external nanoscale dimensions. In other words, these particles have their size in the range of 1 to 100 nm. This particle size is undetectable to the human eye, but these particles can exhibit significantly different physical and chemical properties to their larger material counterparts.

Nanomaterials vs Nanoparticles in Tabular Form

Figure 01: Silver Nanoparticles

There are many different uses of nanoparticles, including the manufacture of scratchproof eyeglasses, crack-resistant paints, anti-graffiti coatings for walls, transparent sunscreens, stain-repellent fabrics, self-cleaning windows, and ceramic coatings for solar cells.

Artificial nanoparticles can be formed from any solid or liquid material, which includes metals, dielectrics, and semiconductors. These objects can be internally homogenous or heterogeneous. Also, these materials sometimes have a core-shell structure.

Some examples of semiconductor nanoparticles include GaN, GaP, and InA from group III-V, ZnS, CdS, silicon, and germanium. These nanoparticles are useful in applications to photocatalysis, electronic devices, nano-photonics, and water splitting applications.

What is the Difference Between Nanomaterials and Nanoparticles?

Nanomaterials and nanoparticles are important terms in nanotechnology. The key difference between nanomaterials and nanoparticles is that nanomaterials are materials with any internal or external structures on the nanoscale dimensions, while nanoparticles are nano-objects with three external nanoscale dimensions. Some examples of nanomaterials are carbon nanotubes, nanocomposite, graphene, nanowire, and fullerene, whereas some examples of nanoparticles are GaN, GaP, InA from group III-V, ZnS, CdS, silicon, and germanium.

Below is a summary of the difference between nanomaterials and nanoparticles in tabular form for side-by-side comparison.

Summary – Nanomaterials vs Nanoparticles

Nanomaterials are materials with any internal or external structures on the nanoscale dimensions. Nanoparticles are nano-objects with three external nanoscale dimensions. The key difference between nanomaterials and nanoparticles is that nanomaterials, at minimum, have one external dimension in the range of 1 – 100 nm whereas, in nanoparticles, all three directions of dimensions are on the nanoscale.