36 Best Nano Technology Business ideas You Can Start Today

Do you want to start a nanotech related business with future potential? If YES, here are 36 best profitable nano technology related business ideas.

Nanotechnology is a field of research and innovation that is concerned with building materials and devices on the scale of atoms and molecules. These materials and devices that are built are on a very tiny scale to enable them function better.

A nanometre is one-billionth of a metre: ten times the diameter of a hydrogen atom. The diameter of a human hair is, on average, 80,000 nanometres. At such scales, the ordinary rules of physics and chemistry no longer.

There have been a lot of ground breaking developments in the area of nanotechnology, and entrepreneurs that pitched their tent earlier in the industry are reaping good dividends. This is the right time to invest in nanotechnology. If you are thinking of starting a business in this industry, here are a few businesses that you start off with.

Best Nano Technology Business ideas

1. Develop pro-healing medical devices

It is a fact that medical devices have been developed that can help in wound healing through the application of nanotechnology. Some of these devices come in form of insertable medical devices that are deployed into the blood vessel in the area where such wounds exist.

The surface of the insertable medical device is coated with nano-carriers that include one or more pro-healing agents encapsulated with one or more biological agents. You can start manufacturing these pro-healing medical devices that can help in wound healing or other medical interventions.

2. Produce laser-assisted bioprinting machines

Laser-assisted bioprinting provides industrial stakeholders and researchers with a unique platform to design and manufacture bio-printed products for regenerative medicine, preclinical research and evaluating the efficacy of cosmetic products and ingredients.

These machines have the ability to design and manufacture tissue with cellular resolution. This allows very precise control of the manufacturing process and guarantees the reproducibility and reliability of bio-printed products. You can start a company that produces laser-assisted bioprinting machines.

3. Manufacture commercial UAVs

An unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), commonly known as a drone, is an aircraft without a human pilot aboard which is either controlled by a remote or an app and uses aerodynamic forces to navigate and perform desired functions. Drones are one of the earliest applications of nanotechnology.

When being utilized for commercial purposes, drones can be used carry small payloads, perform delivery and minor services, carry video and static cameras for photography and videography, and perform commercial, military inspections and operations. You can take advantage of this emerging market to build commercials drones which you can sell or rent out.

4. Manufacturer medical fitness wearables

Fitness wearables are not new to us and they are connected to the Internet as they communicate with our smartphones. The easiest and the most obvious ability of such devices is to pass data about your heartbeat to a medical establishment or to a doctor in an emergency occasion.

These devices also perform a lot of other useful functions like diet management. A lot of sports people are currently using these devices to protect themselves while they train. This is one business you should get into right now because of its importance in the lives of people.

5. Manufacture intelligent toys

Toys for kids have come a long way from morbid plastics to toys that exhibit quite some high level of intelligence. In order to fit in with the times and make loads of cash while you are at it, you can start an intelligence toy manufacturing company.

Toys that spark curiosity and build foundational knowledge of programming and problem solving come in the form of robots, circuit boards, and computer kits. These toys not only get kids thinking about complex problems, they are collaborative, engaging, and build technical skills.

6. Produce enhanced man-made polymer products

Man-made polymers are called Synthetic Polymers. These polymers are different from organic polymers, because they are made of different elements along their backbone structure. The polymers which are formed by linking monomer units without any change of material, are known as addition polymers or chain-growth polymers.

Nano technology has brought out endless ways man made polymers can be further modified to yield additional products. Research these products and start manufacturing them.

7. Produce Nanoscale water Filters

Filters that are structured on the nanoscale offer the promise of better water purification systems that are cheap to manufacture, long-lasting and can be cleaned. Water purification using nanotechnology exploits nanoscopic materials such as carbon nanotubes and alumina fibers for nanofiltration of water.

These filters are made to absorb or neutralize toxic materials such as arsenic, that poison the water table in many countries. This is a good manufacturing business idea for a water engineer.

8. Produce Nanosensors for Crops

Nano technology has had a lot of breakthroughs in crop management, even to the extent of being used to detect chemical mating signals of hazardous crop pests, even at extremely low concentrations, thus prompting preventive measures to avoid crop losses.

In fact, some MIT engineers have created sensors that can be printed onto plant leaves and reveal when the plants are experiencing water shortage. There is no shortage of ways nano technology can help build agriculture. You can start producing tiny sensors that offer the possibility of monitoring pathogens on crops and livestock as well as measuring crop productivity.

9. Develop seed crops that can grow in harsh conditions

Researchers in both developed and developing countries have started developing crops that are able to grow under ‘hostile’ conditions, such as fields where the soil contains high levels of salt (sometimes due to climate change and rising sea levels) or low levels of water.

This is accomplished by manipulating the crops’ genetic material, and working on a nanotechnology scale with biological molecules. This is another good are to exploit.

10. Produce nano-sized waste water filters and oil clean up tools

The world depends a lot on recycled water, but it is a fact that not all chemicals are completely eradicated from water before it is shipped to consumers. This is one way nanotechnology can help tremendously. Tiny wastewater filters, for example, could sift emissions from industrial plants, eliminating even the smallest residues before they are released into the environment.

Similar filters could clean up emissions from industrial combustion plants. And nanoparticles could be used to clean up oil spills, separating the oil from sand, removing it from rocks and from the feathers of birds caught in a spill.

11. Produce devices that protect against Nano particles

Research has shown that nano-sized particles accumulate in the nasal cavities, lungs and brains of rats, and that carbon nanomaterials known as ‘buckyballs’ induce brain damage in fish. It has been discovered also that the small size of nanoparticles could render them toxic to humans.

You can key into this problem to produce protective mechanisms and equipment that can sift out nano particles when worn, so that researchers can be better protected.

12. Produce nanosponges

Nanosponges are nano sized particles designed to look like red blood cell and protect the body. Nanosponges are one of such effective drug carriers which conquer the problems of drug toxicity.

These sponges can sop up a particular variety of toxins that injure red blood cells, and they can travel freely in the bloodstream. Nanoparticles have been used for preventative measures, and for creating wound care products.  You can produce nanosponges for medical and research centers.

13. Produce nanofiber clothing materials

Making composite fabric with nano-sized particles or fibers allows improvement of fabric properties without a significant increase in weight, thickness, or stiffness as might have been the case with previously-used techniques. For example incorporating nano-whiskers into fabric used to make pants produce a lightweight water and stain repellent material.

This is indeed the next generation of clothing, and you can reap huge benefits if you start off early. You may not be the one to produce them, but you can look out for such latest technology in fabric manufacturing and start distributing them early enough.

Nano fibres have a lot of application in the clothing industry, as you can produce Nanowhiskers that cause water to bead up, making the fabric water and stain resistant. You can also create silver nanoparticles in fabric that kills bacteria making clothing odor- resistant.

There are also nanopores providing superior insulation for shoe inserts in cold weather, and nanoparticles that provide a “lotus plant” effect for fabric used awnings and other material left out in the weather, causing dirt to rinse off in the rain.

14. Produce nano technology enhanced sporting goods

If you’re a tennis or golf fan, you’ll be glad to hear that even sporting goods has wandered into the nano realm. Current nanotechnology applications in the sports arena include:

• Increasing the strength of tennis racquets by adding nanotubes to the frames which increases control and power when you hit the ball.
• Filling any imperfections in club shaft materials with nanoparticles; this improves the uniformity of the material that makes up the shaft and thereby improving your swing.
• Reducing the rate at which air leaks from tennis balls so they keep their bounce longer. Using a nanocomposite film to keep the air in tennis balls longer.
• Coating kayaks with an epoxy containing carbon nanotubes reduces the chance of damaging the skin of the kayak.
• Strengthening fishing rods without increasing their weight by adding silica nanoparticles to fill spaces between carbon fibers.
• Improving the gliding performance of skis with a wax containing a nanocomposite.

15. Develop Chemical and Biological Sensors/nano bloodhounds

Because of the small size of nanotubes, nanowires, or nanoparticles, a few gas molecules are sufficient to change the electrical properties of sensing elements. This allows the detection of a very low concentration of chemical vapors. The goal is to have small, inexpensive sensors that can sniff out chemicals just as dogs are used in airports to smell the vapors given off by explosives or drugs.

The capability of producing small, inexpensive sensors that can quickly identify a chemical vapor provides a kind of nano-bloodhound that doesn’t need sleep or exercise which can be useful in a number of ways. An obvious application is to mount these sensors throughout an airport, or any facility with security concerns, to check for vapors given off by explosive devices.

These sensors can also be useful in industrial plants that use chemicals in manufacturing to detect the release of chemical vapors. When hydrogen fuel cells come into use, in cars or other applications, a sensor that detects escaped hydrogen could be very useful in warning of a leak.

This technology should also make possible inexpensive networks of air quality monitoring stations to improve the tracking of air pollution sources.

16. Produce nano particles that filter household water

Nanoparticles can be used to convert water contaminating chemical through a chemical reaction to make it harmless. This can then better enhance the purity of household drinking water. Studies have shown that this method can be used successfully to reach contaminates dispersed even in underground ponds and at much lower cost than methods which require pumping the water out of the ground for treatment.

A deionization method using electrodes composed of nano-sized fibers shows promise for reducing the cost and energy requirements of turning saltwater into drinking water.

This is another good way an entrepreneur can go because it has been proved that the earth contains more salt water than fresh water. Furthermore, you can equally produce nano inspired water filters that are able to detect and sift out virus cells from water.

17. Produce nano Scavengers

In recent years, environmental engineers have sought to disinfect, depollute and desalinate contaminated water using nanoscale particles of these active materials.

Engineers call them nanoscavengers. When dispersed in water, the nano scavengers efficiently interact with contaminants to remove them from the water. They are then quickly collected with a permanent magnet, owing to their magnetically ultra responsive core layers. You can work with nano scavengers in the area of water purification.

18. Produce nano catalysts that purify air

Nanotechnology can improve the performance and cost of catalysts used to transform vapors escaping from cars or industrial plants into harmless gasses. That’s because catalysts made from nanoparticles have a greater surface area to interact with the reacting chemicals than catalysts made from larger particles.

The larger surface area allows more chemicals to interact with the catalyst simultaneously, which makes the catalyst more effective.

Nanostructured membranes, on the other hand, can be developed to separate carbon dioxide from industrial plant exhaust streams. The plan is to create a method that can be implemented in any power plant without expensive retrofitting. This is another are waiting for reasonable input.

19. Create improved fuels

Nano technology has made great leaps in improving fuel efficiency and corrosion resistance in vehicles. This is done by building vehicle parts from nanocomposite materials that are lighter, stronger, and more chemically resistant than metal.

Nanofilters remove nearly all airborne particles from the air before it reaches the combustion chamber, further improving gas mileage.

20. Manufacture nano batteries

Researchers have long been looking into manufacturing batteries that have long shelf life, and today, nano technology has made this possible.

Using nanotechnology in the manufacture of batteries offers the following benefits: Reducing the possibility of batteries catching fire by providing less flammable electrode material; and increasing the available power from a battery and decreasing the time required to recharge a battery.

These benefits are achieved by coating the surface of an electrode with nanoparticles. This increases the surface area of the electrode thereby allowing more current to flow between the electrode and the chemicals inside the battery. This technique could increase the efficiency of hybrid vehicles by significantly reducing the weight of the batteries needed to provide adequate power.

It can also be used to increase the shelf life of a battery by using nanomaterials to separate liquids in the battery from the solid electrodes when there is no draw on the battery. This separation prevents the low level discharge that occurs in a conventional battery, which increases the shelf life of the battery dramatically.

21. Distribute nano improved storage bins

Nanotechnology is having an impact on several aspects of food science, from how food is grown to how it is packaged. Companies are developing nanomaterials that will make a difference not only in the taste of food, but also in food safety, and the health benefits that food delivers.

Storage bins are now being produced with silver nanoparticles embedded in the plastic. These silver nanoparticles kill bacteria from any material that was previously stored in the bins, minimizing health risks from harmful bacteria. This product is ripe to be mass produced and distributed.

22. Manufacture farm sensors

Another development being perused is a network of nanosensors and dispensers that can be used throughout a farm field. These sensors recognize when a plant needs nutrients or water, before there is any sign that the plant is deficient. The dispensers can then release fertilizer, nutrients, or water as needed, optimizing the growth of each plant in the field one by one.

23. Produce Nanoelectronics

Nanoelectronics hold some answers for how we might increase the capabilities of electronics devices while we reduce their weight and power consumption.

Some of the nanoelectronics areas are still under development, which you can explore in more detail, but you can as well key into new found research and start building your own nanoelectronics. Nano electronics have the following enhanced features;

• Improved display screens on electronics devices. This involves reducing power consumption while decreasing the weight and thickness of the screens.
• Increased density of memory chips. Researchers are developing a type of memory chip with a projected density of one terabyte of memory per square inch or greater.
• Reduced size of transistors used in integrated circuits. One researcher believes it may be possible to put the power of all of today’s present computers in the palm of your hand.

24. Set up nanotech media research center

One application of nanotechnology in medicine currently being developed involves employing nanoparticles to deliver drugs, heat, light or other substances to specific types of cells (such as cancer cells). Particles are engineered so that they are attracted to diseased cells, which allows direct treatment of those cells.

This technique reduces damage to healthy cells in the body and allows for earlier detection of disease. Again, nanoparticles that deliver chemotherapy drugs directly to cancer cells are still under development.

Tests are in progress for targeted delivery of chemotherapy drugs and their final approval for their use with cancer patients is pending. This goes to show that there is still a lot of research going on the application of nanotechnology and you can set up a medical research center to further this research.

25. Manufacture nanotech enhanced cosmetic products

The applications of nanotechnology and nanomaterials can be found in many cosmetic products including moisturizers, hair care products, make up and sunscreen. This widespread influence of nanotechnology in cosmetic industries is due to the enhanced properties attained by the particles at the nano level including color, transparency, solubility etc.

Nanomaterials have been used to try and improve the performance of a wide range of products, from moisturizer and anti-ageing creams to hair care. Most of the main cosmetics manufacturers have at least some “nano-enhanced” products in their range.

These nanostructured materials show much more efficient delivery of the active ingredient to the skin cells. This is another are to be looked into in this industry, even though there is still a lot of controversy surrounding it.

26. Print customized cross-regional properties

The idea of printing 3-dimensional objects, at first, seemed futuristic. It was mostly a novelty. But now, 3D-printing is a game-changing technology with applications in everything from machine components to printing organs. However, a major issue for 3D-printing is the low strength and brittleness of the resulting structures, but this is an emerging industry, and already human organs are starting to get printed.

27. Produce dust resistant paints

The efficiency of solar cells, air conditioners, cooling coils, and many other types of energy-intensive equipment is dependent upon the cleanliness of their heat-transfer surfaces. One study has estimated that solar energy output losses from dust could be as much as 25%.

You can start producing water-resistant paint coating that reduces dust adhesion to surfaces by 95%. In the form of a nanoparticle suspension, it can be applied using a variety of methods or incorporated into other coatings, and bonds with steel, glass and plastic.

28. Manufacture high energy absorbing embedded monitoring devices

Battery life is a critical issue for embedded monitoring technologies (e.g. pacemakers, engine feedback, and pipeline monitoring). But by harvesting mechanical energy from moving parts (e.g. humans), it’s possible to extend the lifespan of embedded monitoring devices.

The problem with current harvesters, however, is that they are limited by their ability to absorb energy at mechanicals frequencies exceeding 100 Hz, but this is getting improved by the day.

29. Manufacture better enduring cellular silicon foams

Cellular silicon foams save lives every single day. Found in items all around us, these porous materials can absorb huge amounts of energy to reduce impact on the human body during car accidents, football matches and workplace incidents.

But this workhorse of safety equipment has its limitations. For example, the pores within silicon foams cannot be finely tuned and must be of a constant density. Even then, structural strength can be inconsistent. These are the areas that are getting a lot of attention, and which nanotechnology is seeking to fix. You can start manufacturing better enduring cellular silicon foams.

30. Manufacture flexible devices

How about being able to roll up your phone to tuck away in your pocket? Some smartphone manufacturers have already started developing flexible devices, but their current iterations are clunky and more novel than necessary. In a move that could revolutionize flexible electronics for smartphones and beyond, researchers are developing a new method to manufacture highly-conductive thin films with transparent conducting oxide nanoparticles.

Their techniques operate at much lower processing temperatures, which in turn will allow manufacturers to use more suitable temperature-sensitive substrates – such as flexible plastics with enhanced electrical properties to produce more durable flexible devices.

31. Manufacture infection resistant implants

Implanted medical devices save thousands of lives each year. However, with these implants comes a high-risk of infection. The surfaces of implanted devices can be an ideal home for bacteria. Infections from medical devices pose a serious problem, with over a million people infected each year in the US – increasing hospital stays by two weeks and mortality rates by 25%.

In the search for a solution, academics in the uk have developed completely “non-stick” nanocomposite coatings that employ electrostatic repulsion to prevent bacteria from settling their roots to a surface. You can equally start manufacturing these implants on a large scale.

32. Produce nanocoatings

Nano-structured coatings are a great way of adding new surface properties to a product without changing the base materials.

Nanocoatings can be applied to an object to dramatically improve functionality – for example, hydrophobic glass upon which raindrops bounce straight off; slippery, hydrophilic medical devices that can be inserted with minimal discomfort; or coatings with highly-antibacterial properties. This is also another industry to invest in.

33. Build Holographic Theatre

The hologram of today is a clever version of an old illusion called Pepper’s Ghost. Papers have it that in the mid-19th century, the trick was done with a thick glass between the audience and image that could make a figure appear to be floating in the air.

We believe that current illusionists use highly reflective polymer, invisible to the audience, to create life-size images. Nano technology can be applied in this are in order to use holograms for real-time telepresence for meetings.

34. Produce tiny scales for virus detection

Viruses are very difficult to detect, and that is why more than half of a nation can succumb to a virus strain before they can be effectively detected and named.

Nano technology has upped the scales on virus detection. You can manufacture a new tool that can be finely tuned to selectively trap viruses by their size and increase the detection threshold for viruses and speed the process of identifying newly-emerging viruses

35. Build Nanosatellites

Like mobiles, satellites are also getting smaller and better. Nanosatellites are those satellites that are just about the size of your shoe box. But, they can do almost everything a conventional satellite does, and that too at a fraction of the cost. This is why government organizations and start-ups to educational institutes are scrambling to get a piece of the tiny satellite pie.

A study by Northern Sky Research predicts earth observation as the primary driver behind the growth of nanosatellites. This is because earth observation market suffers from data poverty in many industry verticals, like agriculture, disaster management, forestry and wildlife.

The research firm believes that a staggering 40 percent of the nano and microsatellites, which are to be launched by the end of year 2024, will be for earth observation applications. You can start building these satellites.

36. Produce micro robots

The use of nanotechnology for the reparation of cells is becoming a popular need in this age.  A computer science professor at Duke University has been creating micro robots that could possibly insert electrons into neurons in the brain.

There are the world’s smallest untethered, controllable robots. The research into this, though still ongoing, but has a wide application once firm results have been confirmed.

Why Start a Nanotechnology Business?

Nanotechnology is hailed as having the potential to increase the efficiency of energy consumption, help clean the environment, and solve major health problems. It is said to be able to massively increase manufacturing and production at significantly reduced costs.

Products of nanotechnology are usually much smaller, cheaper, lighter yet more functional and require less energy and fewer raw materials to manufacture, thus reducing overhead.

In 2008, more than $18 billion was invested in nanotechnology by private and public sector companies worldwide with substantial portions in the areas of health and medicine. With the increased ageing population and cost of healthcare, focus is shifting from managing health to preventative measures.

Hence better diagnostic nano devices and targeted therapeutics with smart drug delivery devices will be in higher demand. Advancements in Nanotechnology will not only improve efficacy and reduce side effects of existing drugs but also will enable a faster discovery process to eliminate non-efficacious drugs with less investment and in a little time.