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Promises and Pitfalls of Technology

Politics and privacy, private-sector influence and big tech, state competition and conflict, author biography, how is technology changing the world, and how should the world change technology.

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Josephine Wolff; How Is Technology Changing the World, and How Should the World Change Technology?. Global Perspectives 1 February 2021; 2 (1): 27353. doi: https://doi.org/10.1525/gp.2021.27353

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Technologies are becoming increasingly complicated and increasingly interconnected. Cars, airplanes, medical devices, financial transactions, and electricity systems all rely on more computer software than they ever have before, making them seem both harder to understand and, in some cases, harder to control. Government and corporate surveillance of individuals and information processing relies largely on digital technologies and artificial intelligence, and therefore involves less human-to-human contact than ever before and more opportunities for biases to be embedded and codified in our technological systems in ways we may not even be able to identify or recognize. Bioengineering advances are opening up new terrain for challenging philosophical, political, and economic questions regarding human-natural relations. Additionally, the management of these large and small devices and systems is increasingly done through the cloud, so that control over them is both very remote and removed from direct human or social control. The study of how to make technologies like artificial intelligence or the Internet of Things “explainable” has become its own area of research because it is so difficult to understand how they work or what is at fault when something goes wrong (Gunning and Aha 2019) .

This growing complexity makes it more difficult than ever—and more imperative than ever—for scholars to probe how technological advancements are altering life around the world in both positive and negative ways and what social, political, and legal tools are needed to help shape the development and design of technology in beneficial directions. This can seem like an impossible task in light of the rapid pace of technological change and the sense that its continued advancement is inevitable, but many countries around the world are only just beginning to take significant steps toward regulating computer technologies and are still in the process of radically rethinking the rules governing global data flows and exchange of technology across borders.

These are exciting times not just for technological development but also for technology policy—our technologies may be more advanced and complicated than ever but so, too, are our understandings of how they can best be leveraged, protected, and even constrained. The structures of technological systems as determined largely by government and institutional policies and those structures have tremendous implications for social organization and agency, ranging from open source, open systems that are highly distributed and decentralized, to those that are tightly controlled and closed, structured according to stricter and more hierarchical models. And just as our understanding of the governance of technology is developing in new and interesting ways, so, too, is our understanding of the social, cultural, environmental, and political dimensions of emerging technologies. We are realizing both the challenges and the importance of mapping out the full range of ways that technology is changing our society, what we want those changes to look like, and what tools we have to try to influence and guide those shifts.

Technology can be a source of tremendous optimism. It can help overcome some of the greatest challenges our society faces, including climate change, famine, and disease. For those who believe in the power of innovation and the promise of creative destruction to advance economic development and lead to better quality of life, technology is a vital economic driver (Schumpeter 1942) . But it can also be a tool of tremendous fear and oppression, embedding biases in automated decision-making processes and information-processing algorithms, exacerbating economic and social inequalities within and between countries to a staggering degree, or creating new weapons and avenues for attack unlike any we have had to face in the past. Scholars have even contended that the emergence of the term technology in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries marked a shift from viewing individual pieces of machinery as a means to achieving political and social progress to the more dangerous, or hazardous, view that larger-scale, more complex technological systems were a semiautonomous form of progress in and of themselves (Marx 2010) . More recently, technologists have sharply criticized what they view as a wave of new Luddites, people intent on slowing the development of technology and turning back the clock on innovation as a means of mitigating the societal impacts of technological change (Marlowe 1970) .

At the heart of fights over new technologies and their resulting global changes are often two conflicting visions of technology: a fundamentally optimistic one that believes humans use it as a tool to achieve greater goals, and a fundamentally pessimistic one that holds that technological systems have reached a point beyond our control. Technology philosophers have argued that neither of these views is wholly accurate and that a purely optimistic or pessimistic view of technology is insufficient to capture the nuances and complexity of our relationship to technology (Oberdiek and Tiles 1995) . Understanding technology and how we can make better decisions about designing, deploying, and refining it requires capturing that nuance and complexity through in-depth analysis of the impacts of different technological advancements and the ways they have played out in all their complicated and controversial messiness across the world.

These impacts are often unpredictable as technologies are adopted in new contexts and come to be used in ways that sometimes diverge significantly from the use cases envisioned by their designers. The internet, designed to help transmit information between computer networks, became a crucial vehicle for commerce, introducing unexpected avenues for crime and financial fraud. Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter, designed to connect friends and families through sharing photographs and life updates, became focal points of election controversies and political influence. Cryptocurrencies, originally intended as a means of decentralized digital cash, have become a significant environmental hazard as more and more computing resources are devoted to mining these forms of virtual money. One of the crucial challenges in this area is therefore recognizing, documenting, and even anticipating some of these unexpected consequences and providing mechanisms to technologists for how to think through the impacts of their work, as well as possible other paths to different outcomes (Verbeek 2006) . And just as technological innovations can cause unexpected harm, they can also bring about extraordinary benefits—new vaccines and medicines to address global pandemics and save thousands of lives, new sources of energy that can drastically reduce emissions and help combat climate change, new modes of education that can reach people who would otherwise have no access to schooling. Regulating technology therefore requires a careful balance of mitigating risks without overly restricting potentially beneficial innovations.

Nations around the world have taken very different approaches to governing emerging technologies and have adopted a range of different technologies themselves in pursuit of more modern governance structures and processes (Braman 2009) . In Europe, the precautionary principle has guided much more anticipatory regulation aimed at addressing the risks presented by technologies even before they are fully realized. For instance, the European Union’s General Data Protection Regulation focuses on the responsibilities of data controllers and processors to provide individuals with access to their data and information about how that data is being used not just as a means of addressing existing security and privacy threats, such as data breaches, but also to protect against future developments and uses of that data for artificial intelligence and automated decision-making purposes. In Germany, Technische Überwachungsvereine, or TÜVs, perform regular tests and inspections of technological systems to assess and minimize risks over time, as the tech landscape evolves. In the United States, by contrast, there is much greater reliance on litigation and liability regimes to address safety and security failings after-the-fact. These different approaches reflect not just the different legal and regulatory mechanisms and philosophies of different nations but also the different ways those nations prioritize rapid development of the technology industry versus safety, security, and individual control. Typically, governance innovations move much more slowly than technological innovations, and regulations can lag years, or even decades, behind the technologies they aim to govern.

In addition to this varied set of national regulatory approaches, a variety of international and nongovernmental organizations also contribute to the process of developing standards, rules, and norms for new technologies, including the International Organization for Standardization­ and the International Telecommunication Union. These multilateral and NGO actors play an especially important role in trying to define appropriate boundaries for the use of new technologies by governments as instruments of control for the state.

At the same time that policymakers are under scrutiny both for their decisions about how to regulate technology as well as their decisions about how and when to adopt technologies like facial recognition themselves, technology firms and designers have also come under increasing criticism. Growing recognition that the design of technologies can have far-reaching social and political implications means that there is more pressure on technologists to take into consideration the consequences of their decisions early on in the design process (Vincenti 1993; Winner 1980) . The question of how technologists should incorporate these social dimensions into their design and development processes is an old one, and debate on these issues dates back to the 1970s, but it remains an urgent and often overlooked part of the puzzle because so many of the supposedly systematic mechanisms for assessing the impacts of new technologies in both the private and public sectors are primarily bureaucratic, symbolic processes rather than carrying any real weight or influence.

Technologists are often ill-equipped or unwilling to respond to the sorts of social problems that their creations have—often unwittingly—exacerbated, and instead point to governments and lawmakers to address those problems (Zuckerberg 2019) . But governments often have few incentives to engage in this area. This is because setting clear standards and rules for an ever-evolving technological landscape can be extremely challenging, because enforcement of those rules can be a significant undertaking requiring considerable expertise, and because the tech sector is a major source of jobs and revenue for many countries that may fear losing those benefits if they constrain companies too much. This indicates not just a need for clearer incentives and better policies for both private- and public-sector entities but also a need for new mechanisms whereby the technology development and design process can be influenced and assessed by people with a wider range of experiences and expertise. If we want technologies to be designed with an eye to their impacts, who is responsible for predicting, measuring, and mitigating those impacts throughout the design process? Involving policymakers in that process in a more meaningful way will also require training them to have the analytic and technical capacity to more fully engage with technologists and understand more fully the implications of their decisions.

At the same time that tech companies seem unwilling or unable to rein in their creations, many also fear they wield too much power, in some cases all but replacing governments and international organizations in their ability to make decisions that affect millions of people worldwide and control access to information, platforms, and audiences (Kilovaty 2020) . Regulators around the world have begun considering whether some of these companies have become so powerful that they violate the tenets of antitrust laws, but it can be difficult for governments to identify exactly what those violations are, especially in the context of an industry where the largest players often provide their customers with free services. And the platforms and services developed by tech companies are often wielded most powerfully and dangerously not directly by their private-sector creators and operators but instead by states themselves for widespread misinformation campaigns that serve political purposes (Nye 2018) .

Since the largest private entities in the tech sector operate in many countries, they are often better poised to implement global changes to the technological ecosystem than individual states or regulatory bodies, creating new challenges to existing governance structures and hierarchies. Just as it can be challenging to provide oversight for government use of technologies, so, too, oversight of the biggest tech companies, which have more resources, reach, and power than many nations, can prove to be a daunting task. The rise of network forms of organization and the growing gig economy have added to these challenges, making it even harder for regulators to fully address the breadth of these companies’ operations (Powell 1990) . The private-public partnerships that have emerged around energy, transportation, medical, and cyber technologies further complicate this picture, blurring the line between the public and private sectors and raising critical questions about the role of each in providing critical infrastructure, health care, and security. How can and should private tech companies operating in these different sectors be governed, and what types of influence do they exert over regulators? How feasible are different policy proposals aimed at technological innovation, and what potential unintended consequences might they have?

Conflict between countries has also spilled over significantly into the private sector in recent years, most notably in the case of tensions between the United States and China over which technologies developed in each country will be permitted by the other and which will be purchased by other customers, outside those two countries. Countries competing to develop the best technology is not a new phenomenon, but the current conflicts have major international ramifications and will influence the infrastructure that is installed and used around the world for years to come. Untangling the different factors that feed into these tussles as well as whom they benefit and whom they leave at a disadvantage is crucial for understanding how governments can most effectively foster technological innovation and invention domestically as well as the global consequences of those efforts. As much of the world is forced to choose between buying technology from the United States or from China, how should we understand the long-term impacts of those choices and the options available to people in countries without robust domestic tech industries? Does the global spread of technologies help fuel further innovation in countries with smaller tech markets, or does it reinforce the dominance of the states that are already most prominent in this sector? How can research universities maintain global collaborations and research communities in light of these national competitions, and what role does government research and development spending play in fostering innovation within its own borders and worldwide? How should intellectual property protections evolve to meet the demands of the technology industry, and how can those protections be enforced globally?

These conflicts between countries sometimes appear to challenge the feasibility of truly global technologies and networks that operate across all countries through standardized protocols and design features. Organizations like the International Organization for Standardization, the World Intellectual Property Organization, the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, and many others have tried to harmonize these policies and protocols across different countries for years, but have met with limited success when it comes to resolving the issues of greatest tension and disagreement among nations. For technology to operate in a global environment, there is a need for a much greater degree of coordination among countries and the development of common standards and norms, but governments continue to struggle to agree not just on those norms themselves but even the appropriate venue and processes for developing them. Without greater global cooperation, is it possible to maintain a global network like the internet or to promote the spread of new technologies around the world to address challenges of sustainability? What might help incentivize that cooperation moving forward, and what could new structures and process for governance of global technologies look like? Why has the tech industry’s self-regulation culture persisted? Do the same traditional drivers for public policy, such as politics of harmonization and path dependency in policy-making, still sufficiently explain policy outcomes in this space? As new technologies and their applications spread across the globe in uneven ways, how and when do they create forces of change from unexpected places?

These are some of the questions that we hope to address in the Technology and Global Change section through articles that tackle new dimensions of the global landscape of designing, developing, deploying, and assessing new technologies to address major challenges the world faces. Understanding these processes requires synthesizing knowledge from a range of different fields, including sociology, political science, economics, and history, as well as technical fields such as engineering, climate science, and computer science. A crucial part of understanding how technology has created global change and, in turn, how global changes have influenced the development of new technologies is understanding the technologies themselves in all their richness and complexity—how they work, the limits of what they can do, what they were designed to do, how they are actually used. Just as technologies themselves are becoming more complicated, so are their embeddings and relationships to the larger social, political, and legal contexts in which they exist. Scholars across all disciplines are encouraged to join us in untangling those complexities.

Josephine Wolff is an associate professor of cybersecurity policy at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. Her book You’ll See This Message When It Is Too Late: The Legal and Economic Aftermath of Cybersecurity Breaches was published by MIT Press in 2018.

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The societal impacts of technological change can be seen in many domains, from messenger RNA vaccines and automation to drones and climate change. The pace of that technological change can affect its impact, and how quickly a technology improves in performance can be an indicator of its future importance. For decision-makers like investors, entrepreneurs, and policymakers, predicting which technologies are fast improving (and which are overhyped) can mean the difference between success and failure.

New research from MIT aims to assist in the prediction of technology performance improvement using U.S. patents as a dataset. The study describes 97 percent of the U.S. patent system as a set of 1,757 discrete technology domains, and quantitatively assesses each domain for its improvement potential.

“The rate of improvement can only be empirically estimated when substantial performance measurements are made over long time periods,” says Anuraag Singh SM ’20, lead author of the paper. “In some large technological fields, including software and clinical medicine, such measures have rarely, if ever, been made.”

A previous MIT study provided empirical measures for 30 technological domains, but the patent sets identified for those technologies cover less than 15 percent of the patents in the U.S. patent system. The major purpose of this new study is to provide predictions of the performance improvement rates for the thousands of domains not accessed by empirical measurement. To accomplish this, the researchers developed a method using a new probability-based algorithm, machine learning, natural language processing, and patent network analytics.

Overlap and centrality

A technology domain, as the researchers define it, consists of sets of artifacts fulfilling a specific function using a specific branch of scientific knowledge. To find the patents that best represent a domain, the team built on previous research conducted by co-author Chris Magee, a professor of the practice of engineering systems within the Institute for Data, Systems, and Society (IDSS). Magee and his colleagues found that by looking for patent overlap between the U.S. and international patent-classification systems, they could quickly identify patents that best represent a technology. The researchers ultimately created a correspondence of all patents within the U.S. patent system to a set of 1,757 technology domains.

To estimate performance improvement, Singh employed a method refined by co-authors Magee and Giorgio Triulzi, a researcher with the Sociotechnical Systems Research Center (SSRC) within IDSS and an assistant professor at Universidad de los Andes in Colombia. Their method is based on the average “centrality” of patents in the patent citation network. Centrality refers to multiple criteria for determining the ranking or importance of nodes within a network.

“Our method provides predictions of performance improvement rates for nearly all definable technologies for the first time,” says Singh.

Those rates vary — from a low of 2 percent per year for the “Mechanical skin treatment — Hair removal and wrinkles” domain to a high of 216 percent per year for the “Dynamic information exchange and support systems integrating multiple channels” domain. The researchers found that most technologies improve slowly; more than 80 percent of technologies improve at less than 25 percent per year. Notably, the number of patents in a technological area was not a strong indicator of a higher improvement rate.

“Fast-improving domains are concentrated in a few technological areas,” says Magee. “The domains that show improvement rates greater than the predicted rate for integrated chips — 42 percent, from Moore’s law — are predominantly based upon software and algorithms.”

TechNext Inc.

The researchers built an online interactive system where domains corresponding to technology-related keywords can be found along with their improvement rates. Users can input a keyword describing a technology and the system returns a prediction of improvement for the technological domain, an automated measure of the quality of the match between the keyword and the domain, and patent sets so that the reader can judge the semantic quality of the match.

Moving forward, the researchers have founded a new MIT spinoff called TechNext Inc. to further refine this technology and use it to help leaders make better decisions, from budgets to investment priorities to technology policy. Like any inventors, Magee and his colleagues want to protect their intellectual property rights. To that end, they have applied for a patent for their novel system and its unique methodology.

“Technologies that improve faster win the market,” says Singh. “Our search system enables technology managers, investors, policymakers, and entrepreneurs to quickly look up predictions of improvement rates for specific technologies.”

Adds Magee: “Our goal is to bring greater accuracy, precision, and repeatability to the as-yet fuzzy art of technology forecasting.”

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New work: New motivation? A comprehensive literature review on the impact of workplace technologies

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The role of work and the characteristics of the workplace have changed greatly in recent decades. Today, new technologies enable an almost seamless interaction between machines and humans and allow teams in different countries and time zones to collaborate effectively. In this paper, we focus on the question of how job motivation is affected by technologies in the changing workplace. First, we review the state of research on job motivation and examine challenges in light of current technology trends and predicted developments for the workplace of the future. Job motivation is a well-documented construct connected to several company-relevant performance outcomes. However, our comprehensive literature review reveals a fragmented picture, with several disciplines addressing the topic from various points of view. We identify the four following schools of thought on workplace technologies and motivation: Technology as 1. background music, 2. hygiene factor, 3. motivator, and 4. influencer of mediators. While some scholars neglect technology in their considerations, others describe complex frameworks. This lack of unity reveals a further need for research. We suggest further research to develop holistic frameworks including moderators and to collect empirical data on the complex interactions between technology and job motivation.

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1 Introduction

New technologies are emerging at an ever-accelerating pace. Not only are voice-recognition systems, household robots, or new digital services, e.g., Amazon’s Alexa, having an impact on our private lives, but work environments are also changing significantly (Brynjolfsson and McAfee 2016 ; Cascio and Montealegre 2016 ; Leopold et al. 2016 ; Oldham and Hackman 2010 ). Technologies in the workplace, such as mobile devices, the Internet of Things, or AI-based applications, shape modern work processes and spaces.

Adopting new technologies and designing workplaces requires high investments and educated managerial decisions to integrate them into the companies’ strategies (Chan et al. 2007 ; Kampschroer and Heerwagen 2005 ; Schmid 2020 ; Vischer 2007 ). Meanwhile, labor shortages and other challenges in recruiting and retention management are affecting human resources (HR) and strategic management processes (Cascio and Montealegre 2016 ). The much sought-after high skilled workers demand modern and appropriate resources to work with. According to the Future Workforce Study 2016, “[n]early half of American Millennials (42%) say they’d likely quit a job if workplace tech didn’t meet their standards” (Dell Technologies and Intel 2016 ). As a result, it is necessary to understand the individual needs and perceptions to implement workplace technologies in an effective and strategic manner (Parker and Ohly 2008 ). These challenges raise the question of how technology in the workplace affects employees on an individual level.

Prior research focuses mainly on how workplace technology influences well-being, productivity, comfort, satisfaction, and territoriality and identity/belonging (Kim 2014 ; Vischer 2008 ). Most of these concepts are linked to employee motivation (Miller et al. 2001 ). The scientific discussion is dominated by works that focus on the changes in work content caused by technological change that lead to motivating aspects in the workplace. Regarding technology itself, technology demotivating employees is oftentimes a popular notion. However, according to an Eventboard survey among 1000 professionals, 38% claim they are motivated by innovative tech tools (Eventboard.io 2016 ).

Motivation is a widely accepted construct that leads to, among other things, better performance, lower fluctuation, lower accident rates (Hackman and Oldham 1976 ; Kanfer and Ackerman 2004 ; Maxwell 2008 ; Seeck and Diehl 2016 ), and job satisfaction (Taylor and Westover 2011 ). Brown ( 2012 ) even declares that “[m]otivation is one of the most critical elements within any kind of workplace.” Thus, employee motivation becomes a crucial strategic asset from a managerial point of view. With this aspect in mind, it might be useful to rephrase our initial question as:

How does workplace technology affect employee motivation?

There are many publications with practical recommendations on how to successfully design workplaces and integrate upcoming technology to keep employees motivated and productive (Barrett 2015 ; Caramela 2018 ; Hartog et al. 2017 ; Prince 2017 ). As most of these publications are merely based on anecdotal insights and the scientific field is fragmented, rigorous academic research is needed (Karanika-Murray and Michaelides 2015 ; Oldham and Hackman 2010 ; Parker 2014 ).

In this paper, we investigate existing research and assess whether current models and theories are suitable for explaining how workplace technologies influence employee motivation. This paper departs from prior studies by focusing on motivational theories and studies from the point of view of changing workspaces in the digital era in a structured and comprehensive manner.

In the following sections, we will describe the theoretical background of the topics at hand before introducing our approach based on the Comprehensive Literature Review as proposed by Onwuegbuzie and Frels ( 2016 ). After analyzing these results in depth, we will cluster them into the four schools of thought which are characterized by the nature of the technological influence on motivation: Technology as 1. background music, 2. hygiene factor, 3. motivator, and 4. influencer of mediators. We will then present implications for research and management and our conclusion.

2 Theoretical background

2.1 workplace technology.

There is no uniform understanding in the literature of what terms denote the technologies used in the workplace. For this reason, we coin the term workplace technologies to provide a common understanding for the following literature review. “Technology is a system-level variable or cluster of variables, which can be conceptualized as the techniques used by an organization or its subunits to transform inputs into outputs.” (Billings et al. 1977 : 319) Following this definition, technology in the context of organizations focuses on the value creation process in general. While this is also the case for workplace technologies, these can be divided into two categories. On the one hand, the “technical tools [are] needed to get work done, such as workstations, computers, or mobile devices.” (Schmid 2020 ) On the other hand, technologies incorporated in workplace design are a necessary situational aspect to support value creation, such as office design, room layout, or furniture. Accordingly, we define workplace technologies as the technologies that surround the employee and are needed to get the job done . Thus, we call the act of implementing such technologies and therefore shaping the physical work environment ‘workplace design’. While these definitions provide a good starting point to assess the topic, we will evaluate the terms used in the literature more closely in our analysis in Sect. 4.2 .

2.2 Employee motivation

Diefendorff and Chandler ( 2011 ) provide a comprehensive yet concise understanding of motivation, which we also base this work on: “ Motivation is often described as an unobservable force that directs, energizes, and sustains behavior over time and across changing circumstances.” While other authors provide different definitions, they all have in common that motivation is a construct or invisible driver, which induces behavior. Research in motivation and thus the origin of behavior in the workplace already began a century ago with the conception of humans contradicting the technocentric worldview that had been predominant at the beginning of the twentieth century (Komlosy 2014 ). One of the most cited research projects on workers from that time is the Hawthorne Studies (Landsberger 1968 ; Mayo 1949 ). These experiments observed how changes in the working conditions influence worker productivity. Researchers interpreted the results as mechanisms inherent in the individual and group structures affecting employee motivation.

These insights led others to shift the focus of their research from the physical aspects to the emergence of a more person-centered view on motivation in the following decades (Kim 2014 ; Veitch 2018 ). Groundbreaking theories like Maslow’s hierarchy of needs or Herzberg’s Two Factor Theory as well as various process theories focusing on the cognitive mechanisms leading to behavior emerged (Herzberg et al. 2017/1959 ; Maslow and Stephens 2000 ).

Herzberg’s Dual-Factor Theory is one of the most frequently cited theories in management research. Using the critical incidents method, he identified context factors as a hygiene factor, which leads to dissatisfaction when absent or unfavorably designed. However, sufficient workplace technology or other context factors may not lead to motivation (Herzberg et al. 2017/1959 ). While still one of the major theories taking external factors and employee motivation into account, it is often criticized for not being replicable with other approaches. Scholars suspect a methodological artefact (Hackman and Oldham 1976 ). However, the notion of adequate context factors merely preventing demotivation led to another direction for research.

In the following years, many researchers examined the impact of work conditions on health and how the work environment can influence humans negatively. For example, the Job-Demand-Control-Model and its successor, the Job-Demands-Resources-Model , explain the development of exhaustion based on an unfavorable working environment (=job demand) (Demerouti and Bakker 2011 ; Veitch 2018 ). Depending on the level of demands or resources available, a job can be perceived as straining/stressful or motivating (Karasek 1979 ; Parker et al. 2017a ). Physical and technological resources are part of this approach, yet the allocation explains negative results like stress rather than motivational aspects (Demerouti and Bakker 2011 ).

To consider individual differences in motivation and work design perceptions, Hackman and Oldham developed the Job Characteristics Model (JCM) based on a study with the Job Diagnostics Survey. Technology is not a central part of the model (Hackman and Oldham 1976 ).

The Self-Determination Theory (SDT) , which was developed a decade after the identification of the Job Characteristics, focuses on the person and conceptualizes intrinsic motivation achieved by addressing the needs autonomy, relatedness, and competence (Deci and Ryan 1985 ; van den Broeck et al. 2016 ). Prior content theories have already focused on needs or need categories. The underlying assumption in all cases is that a person is motivated to show a certain behavior in pursuit of satisfying these needs (Maslow and Stephens 2000 ).

Yet another perspective on the topic highlights the emotional component of feeling motivated. Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi coined the term “ flow ” in 1990 to describe a mental state in which a person is fully focused on a task. Flow occurs depending on individual readiness, tasks, and external circumstances (Csikszentmihalyi 2010 ).

Another wave of research that occurred in the 1990s and 2000s attempted to integrate existing research and create a broader perspective as each of the motivation theories and models focuses on a different aspect to study the concept of motivation (Diefendorff and Chandler 2011 ; Humphrey et al. 2007 ; Parker et al. 2017a ). In this period, empirical data provided new insights—particularly on the properties of extrinsic incentives. The results indicate ambiguous effects of material rewards on intrinsic motivation in so-called interesting or creative tasks (Amabile et al. 1986 ; Becker and Steele 1995 ; Deci et al. 1999 ; Heckhausen and Heckhausen 2010 ). For innovative behavior in particular, this connection plays a critical role in improving work results (Seeck and Diehl 2016 ).

3 Literature review

Due to the constant growth in publications in this research domain during the past decades, the existing literature is plentiful. To cope with the amount of research and achieve a comprehensive overview, we chose a structured approach. In response to calls for methodological rigor in management literature reviews (Bouncken et al. 2015 ; Fisch and Block 2018 ; Tranfield et al. 2003 ), we provide a structured review of motivation research publications and how they consider workplace technologies. Onwuegbuzie and Frels ( 2016 ) suggest that the Comprehensive Literature Review offers the opportunity to assess large volumes of publications in a transparent manner. To identify the key publications on the topic, we followed the four steps as outlined below. Figure  1 presents an overview of the details of each step.

Search strings and filtering methods produced 67 results for a comprehensive literature review (own illustration)

1. Search: To capture a broad range of results, we placed no prior restrictions on the definition of motivation or workplace-related influences. We chose general search terms accordingly. Search strings in different scientific databases with combinations of search terms related to the topic provided more than 200,000 results.

2. Filter: We filtered these results by assessing a representative number of abstracts (Krejcie and Morgan 1970 , as cited in Onwuegbuzie and Frels 2016 )—resulting in 1454 abstracts. Here, we relied on the databases’ results sorted by relevance.

3. Selection: Depending on the search engine, we found hundreds of results unrelated to the initial question. Many of these publications used the term “motivation” to describe the relevance of the topic. Others were closer to the topic at hand, yet unfit for shedding light on the current question. A recurring notion, for example, is the use of “workspace” to describe the radius of a robot arm. Other publications, some of which were works on the Technology Acceptance Model and its variations, referred to the mechanisms of how people can be motivated to use certain technologies at work. As the guiding criterion in this step was to select publications that cover aspects of employee motivation as defined above, we excluded those search results, which resulted in 205 useful publications.

4. Evaluation: We evaluated the remaining publications in depth to find out whether they addressed motivational theory in general and, specifically, the influence of workplace technology as defined above. During this assessment, we find that that a large part of motivation research has only marginally considered workplace technologies in their research. The authors mention ‘workplace attributes’ (Karanika-Murray and Michaelides 2015 ; Taylor and Westover 2011 ), ‘workplaces’ (Wong et al. 2008 ) or other situational aspects including technological elements. However, workplace technology is not at the center of attention but can instead be perceived as “background music” within these approaches. Thus, we excluded those publications. We also assessed reference lists to add further relevant publications (backward snowballing). Finally, we identified 67 publications dealing with job motivation and workplace technologies.

4 Analysis of the literature sample

In this section, we will analyze the 67 publications resulting from the above-mentioned procedure. To do so, we use an integrative approach including a systematic descriptive analysis to identify trends and gaps in this research area. Following a descriptive analysis on origin, publication date, and quality of the results, we will assess the contents in detail by mapping the perspectives on motivation and the theories applied as well as the different external factors. Subsequently, different perceptions of the relationship between workplace technologies and motivation are reviewed.

4.1 Descriptive analysis of the sample

From the 67 publications, the earliest works are from Denise M. Rousseau and Oldham and Brass applying the ‘Job Characteristics Model’ by Hackman/Oldham from the 1970s. Footnote 1 While office automation was a popular topic in the 1980s, works by Teresa M. Amabile on creativity and intrinsic motivation had an undeniable effect on motivation research in the 1990s. Most of the results though are from the 2000s and later, where the diversity of disciplines and origin increased.

Over time, the authors’ country of origin shifted away from the United States. Overall, the focus still lies on Northern America, with more than half of the authors working there, but widens to include other regions such as Europe, Southeast Asia, and Australia—particularly after 2010 (see Fig.  2 ). These results reflect the growing interest in motivating workplace design in developed countries.

First Authors’ origin over time shows rising numbers of non-US-based publications ( n  = 67)

Most publications come from rather traditional fields like psychology and (HR) management as well as from more recent disciplines like technology and facility management. Depending on the field, the perspective on the topic differs. While psychological and pedagogic publications have a stronger focus on the cognitive and affective processes, authors with a technological background tend to initially build on motivation theories but then focus on technological characteristics and details (Liu et al. 2018 ; Perryer et al. 2016 ).

Since we considered different databases, about one quarter of the results are not scientific journal articles, but books (reference books, textbooks, anthologies) or grey literature such as reports or comments. To determine the quality of the scientific articles, we consulted the most recent editions of the VHB Jourqual published by the German Association of Business Professors, the AJG from the British Chartered Association of Business Schools, and the JCR Impact Factor provided by Web of Science. The type and quality of the relevant results are listed in Table  1 .

To capture the diversity of the sources, we included all quality levels in our analysis; however, we consider the kind of publications when interpreting the results in the discussion.

The majority of publications (almost half of them) present a literature review, none of them using a structured approach. Eleven authors develop a new theory or framework, while others review the current state of research with a comprehensive overview of the situation. Especially worth mentioning is “Work Design Influences: A Synthesis of Multi-Level Factors that Affect the Design of Work” by Parker et al. ( 2017b ), as the collection and number of the sources is impressive.

Another third of the results contains quantitative analyses—with questionnaires as the primary method of choice. Depending on the underlying theory, the Job Diagnostics Survey (JDS), Work Preference Inventory (WPI), Work Design Questionnaire (WDQ), or a combination of items from these and other questionnaires were used. Other data collection methods include experiments or diary surveys; the critical incidents-method is a specific approach that is mostly used when reproducing data based on Herzberg’s Two Factor Model (Knight and Westbrook 2015 ). Few authors opted for a qualitative or mixed approach including thematic analyses of interviews and diary entries. Table  2 provides an overview.

Having described the quantity and structure of our 67 search results, we turn to the content of the publications in the following sections. To ensure a systematic process, we first outline the different types of technologies influencing job motivation mentioned in the literature. We will then show how the researchers conceptualized the relationship between those influences and job motivation.

4.2 Types of workplace technologies

Different authors provide different understandings of the influencing technologies—the terms used vary greatly. Table  3 provides an overview of these terms.

Many authors work with rather general terms to include physical environmental aspects. Expressions like situation (Heckhausen and Heckhausen 2010 ), job/work context (Herzberg et al. 2017/1959 ; Humphrey et al. 2007 ), physical environment (Demerouti and Bakker 2011 ; Mitchell 1997 ; Mitchell and Daniels 2003 ), physical working conditions (Knight and Westbrook 2015 ; Osteraker 1999 ; Rožman et al. 2017 ), work/office environment (Amdan et al. 2016 ; Barford and Hester 2011 ; Brenner 1999 ), or workplace design (Hancock 2009 ) are used. These terms represent a rather general understanding including—but not focusing on—workplace technologies.

Other authors narrow down their understanding: Technology (Amabile 1993 ; Methot and Phillips-Grant 1998 ; Morgeson and Campion 2003 ; Parker and Ohly 2008 ), technological factors (Das 1999 ; Parker et al. 2017b ), or technological environment (Jong 1989 ) are the terms used. Again, these publications do not explain their meaning any further or provide specific classification. This lack of definition can be vexing; however, as most of these publications are reviews or theory-building papers, there is no imminent need for operationalization.

Room appearance and layout: A popular approach for taking workplace technologies into account is observing reactions to office layout and equipment. While these technologies do not directly generate added value, they are an integral part of the workplace. One of the earlier examples is the research by Oldham and Brass ( 1979 ). They observed employees’ reactions after moving into an open office layout. Greenberg ( 1988 ), DeVoe and Prencipe ( 2001 ), and Lawrence and Nohria ( 2002 ) also focused on workplace technologies incorporated in workplace design, such as room size or furniture. Miller et al. ( 2001 ) chose a very specific approach and examined how the ‘sense of place’ influences motivation. As the perception of the physical environment differs, this concept may well hold explanatory power for how workplace technology affects workers in different ways. In a survey, they collected data on physical comfort, the perception of objects, furniture, and other environmental aspects (= sense of place). Their findings suggest a significant positive correlation between sense of place and motivation.

Samani et al. ( 2018 ) conducted a survey on the effects of transforming an open space layout by adding partitions. Their results show increased satisfaction and motivation. The new individual workstations offered the opportunity for workers to adjust their surroundings to their individual needs to a certain degree, e.g. the level of lighting. A similar approach was chosen by Knight and Haslam ( 2010 ). In their survey, they focused on managerial control of office space. Other researchers evaluate office layout or changing environments due to flexible work models. Research includes details on single office, multi office, or open space layouts (Kleibrink 2011 ) as well as interactive concepts like coworking spaces (Houghton et al. 2018 ). Olson and Tasley ( 1983 ) and Janneck et al. ( 2018 ) also included other working concepts, like home office or mobile working (= hoteling). These approaches are particularly popular in the research areas of facility and real estate management. They reflect the office trends shifting away from the individual office to open solutions with tele- and virtual working. While this approach is specific and comprehensive at the same time, details on technological tools and characteristics are lacking.

One possibility for ensuring both a comprehensive understanding of and a focus on technological aspects of the workplace is to classify them in a taxonomy . Rousseau ( 1977 , 1978 ), for example, applies James D Thompson’s technological classification scheme from 1967 that distinguishes between long-linked, mediated, and intensive technologies. Long-linked technologies describe a structured system with clear cause-and-effect-relationships. They are characterized by highly standardized sequential processes like an assembly line. Mediated technologies still contain prescribed processes; however, the tool to be applied must be chosen individually by the employee. With current technological advances, intensive technologies are on the rise. Here, the result of processes is not clear, and the appropriate technology has to be chosen individually (Thompson 1967 ). These systems are mainly found in jobs with creative tasks and human interaction, which are gaining in importance during the digital transformation (Frey and Osborne 2017 ).

In their survey on employees’ responses to environmental structures, Pierce et al. ( 1984 ) took a similar stance. To operationalize technology, they adopted a multi-dimensional approach, taking operations technology, material technology, and knowledge technology into account.

Another approach for classifying technology is to do so chronologically. Millman and Hartwick ( 1987 ) summarized different early ICT-applications, such as mainframe and personal computers, or teleconferencing, under the term ‘office automation.’ Cascio and Montealegre ( 2016 ) analyze ubiquitous computing (e.g., electronic monitoring systems, robots, teleconferencing, and wearable computing devices) as a further development of enterprise, end-user, and strategic computing.

Malone and Lepper ( 1987 ) categorize technologies and activities based specifically on how they influence motivation; they can be tools or toys. While tools are primarily used to achieve an external goal, toys are used for their own sake. The authors use an example to show that this classification is not necessarily distinctive. While most people use their computer to get work done, others take pleasure in mastering this tool (=toy).

Several authors opted for a focused approach and investigated specific technologies . One area worth noting is production technologies. Argote and Goodman ( 1986 ), for example, review how individuals react to the introduction of robotics, and Osterloh and Gerhard ( 1992 ) discuss the potentials of an anthropocentric production design.

Other research projects focus on applications in the area of information and communication technologies, such as hardware and software tools (Martin 2017 ; Pacauskas and Rajala 2017 ; Sidler 1984 ; Siemens 2005 ). Lazar et al. ( 2006 ), and Eden et al. ( 2010 ) examined (stationary) computers in the workplace while the growing mobile access to data plays a major role in a survey undertaken by Sinha and Arora ( 2015 ).

Although Benson and Dundis ( 2003 ) use the rather general term “technology” in their analysis, they discuss the specific implementation of ICT in nursing trainings. Housand and Housand ( 2012 ) also focus on training applications—placing emphasis on educational purposes. Other software applications include communication platforms (Brown 2012 ), enterprise management systems (Bala and Venkatesh 2013 ), email applications, or access to internet (Martin 2017 ). The easy and fast access to information due to these tools is mostly the crucial aspect influencing motivation and behavior.

A very young topic in the area of technology and motivation is gamification. It can be defined “as the use of game design elements in non-game contexts” (Deterding et al. 2011 ). This innovation deserves special mention as software applications and systems are designed using gamification elements specifically to motivate. The combination of rewards, collaboration, and competitive setting is crucial (Domínguez et al. 2013 ; Janneck et al. 2018 ; Liu et al. 2018 ; Perryer et al. 2016 ).

4.3 Types of relationships between technology and motivation

Ten publications adhere to Herzberg’s view on work conditions as a hygiene factor (Herzberg et al. 2017/1959 ). This paradigm highlights the constraining characteristics of workplace technologies. As these design elements and technological applications change over time, the original empirical results are called into question (Siemens 2005 ). Therefore, Knight and Westbrook ( 2015 ) reproduced Herzberg’s critical incidents method with data from telecommuters. Their results mainly correspond to those of Herzberg; however, communication and flexibility enabled by ICT became motivators highlighting the role of technology.

Other researchers follow the perspective of this model by viewing external aspects as restricting motivation and performance (Demerouti and Bakker 2011 ; Karasek 1979 ). By taking a diary approach, Lazar et al. ( 2006 ) examined frustrating effects when using computers. While the authors acknowledge that mild frustration can be motivating, they view most experiences as a problem in the workplace.

Ryan and Deci ( 2000 ) evaluate research on the Self-Determination Theory and view motivation as the individual need for growth that inner resources foster. Environmental aspects act as an infrastructure in which demands can cause negative results if too prevalent (Demerouti and Bakker 2011 ; Karasek 1979 ; Taylor 2015 ).

Another 17 publications claim a direct relationship between environmental influences and motivation. Ford ( 1992 ) explains the connection as follows: “Because humans are open systems whose existence, functioning, and development depend on material-energy and information exchanges with relevant contexts, the environment is always an integral part of their functioning” (Ford 1992 ). While the author does not elaborate on the relationship further, other researchers included this aspect in a similar manner. Several authors illustrate the situational (job context) influence on cognitive and motivational processes in their frameworks as an influence equal to the personal disposition/individual inputs (Barford and Hester 2011 ; Heckhausen and Heckhausen 2010 ; Houghton et al. 2018 ; Jong 1989 ).

While the nature of the relationship (particularly regarding the technological factors) is not described in detail, expectations may play a crucial role (Heckhausen and Heckhausen 2010 ; Jong 1989 ; Mitchell 1997 ; Mitchell and Daniels 2003 ). Other authors do not provide additional insights on the mechanisms of these processes either, but offer instead more details on the influences investigated. Das ( 1999 ), for example, developed a holistic framework describing several factors—technological, among others—that make up work design. Pierce et al. ( 1984 ) evaluated environmental structures on different levels (job, technology, work unit, leadership) and how these influence employee behavior (performance, absenteeism, intrinsic motivation, etc.). Results show that job and technology are the most important aspects explaining responses.

An approach to exploit this direct connection is utilizing workplace technologies as rewards. Perryer et al. ( 2016 ), for example, argue that one aspect of gamification applications is extrinsic prizes or badges—depending on the game design—that can be won. Other workplace technologies can also be perceived as a reward. In his survey on equity, Greenberg ( 1988 ) distributed status symbols, like remuneration and offices, among sales managers. Here, it is not the functionality of the furniture, but its symbolism that influences perceived fairness and extrinsic motivation (Vilnai-Yavetz et al. 2005 ). Elsewhere, using technology as rewards is mostly based on managerial recommendations, the scientific value of which is low (DeVoe and Prencipe 2001 ; O’Donovan 2002 ; Sidler 1984 ).

Miller et al.’s ( 2001 ) empirical findings suggest a significant positive correlation between sense of place and motivation. Interestingly, it seems that it is not the examined environmental aspects themselves that are the contributor to motivation, but the opportunity to control them. Personalization of furnishings and positioning of objects seem to be particularly important here. This hints towards a rather indirect relationship —researchers in 39 publications describe such mechanisms. In this perspective, some factors act as mediators between the external influence and the motivational processes. Depending on the conceptual framework, these mediators range from emotional aspects and needs to job characteristics. Table  4 provides an overview of the mediators with underlying frameworks and examples. To ensure a structured presentation of the mediators and allow for readability, we numbered each item in both the table and in the text. The numbers do not represent a ranking.

Perhaps the most obvious understanding of the indirect influence of technologies is that they can satisfy needs (1). Osteraker ( 1999 ), for example, claims that physical working conditions address physical needs. Other examples of needs include safety, esteem, self-actualization (Maslow and Stephens 2000 ), social interaction (Brown 2012 ; Lawrence and Nohria 2002 ), or the need to succeed (Nohria et al. 2008 ; Perryer et al. 2016 ; Sinha and Arora 2015 ). Brenner ( 1999 ) and Benson and Dundis ( 2003 ) provide a very clear and holistic perspective on how technology contributes to need satisfaction. They discuss the effects of workplace design elements, ICT, and training on employees in offices and the healthcare sector on every level of Maslow’s Need Hierarchy. They argue for example, that technology applied in training situations can provide the feeling of (job) security and the application of ICT enhance belonging to groups regardless of the person’s current location.

A wide array of publications—in fact the whole ergonomics research stream—deal with workplace technologies and how they affect the human body. As the focus here is anatomy, cognitive and affective outcomes—like work motivation—are mainly neglected. Paul ( 1997 ) provides an exception. He connects workplace design (including office equipment) with the notion that it can have pampering effects on need satisfaction—both on the human body and motivation. He assumes an inverted U-shaped correlation with productivity and employee motivation. The implication would be that a physically uncomfortable workplace design leads to dissatisfaction (which would be in line with the Herzberg’s findings), while a too ‘plushy’ workplace leads to employees feeling too comfortable and even lazy.

Another approach is to focus on the characteristics of the workplace rather than individual needs. Soon after Hackman and Oldham published the Job Characteristics Model, Denise M Rousseau analyzed the Job Characteristics (2 Task Identity, 3 Skill Variety, 4 Task Significance, 5 Feedback, 6 Autonomy) and how they interact with the (technological) environment (Rousseau 1977 , 1978 ). She found that the design of processes and technology use is correlated with Job Characteristics as well as with behavioral and attitudinal outcomes. At the same time, Oldham and Brass ( 1979 ) evaluated the internal motivation of office employees after moving from cellular to open offices. A sharp decline in motivation can be explained by a drop in the Job Characteristics.

Other authors argue that the Job Characteristics can be shaped by technologies: It is easy to agree with the claim that “autonomy originates in the workplace rather than the job” (Karanika-Murray and Michaelides 2015 ) when imagining that (mobile) access to data provides employees with the power to decide where and when to work (Millman and Hartwick 1987 ; Olson and Tasley 1983 ). In their experiment with CNC machine operators, Liu et al. ( 2018 ) designed a gamified approach to influence Skill Variety, Feedback, and Autonomy for workers. An app provides points and badges for achievements in different challenges. The data on 80 participants in total reveal a significant increase in motivation and job satisfaction.

To motivate employees, Cascio and Montealegre ( 2016 ) recommend implementing technologies addressing the needs for autonomy (6), competence (7), and relatedness (8) based on the Self Determination Theory. While physical design decisions can influence perceived relatedness, virtual technologies can also contribute to satisfying social needs. Housand and Housand ( 2012 ) suggest mentoring networks and online group tasks to promote cooperation.

In their Expanded Work Design Model based on the JCM, Humphrey et al. ( 2007 ) conducted a meta-analysis with 259 studies and 219,625 participants. While there were not enough studies available to make valid claims on the effects of work context characteristics on motivation, a positive effect of both work conditions and ergonomics on attitudinal outcomes and a negative effect of physical demand on behavioral outcomes can be assumed (Humphrey et al. 2007 )—this finding is in line with the publications we subsumed under the “technology as a hygiene factor” section. While physical demand in the form of insufficient and complicated workplace design demotivates employees, work needs to be challenging to a certain extent to motivate (Amabile 1993 ; Housand and Housand 2012 ; Malone and Lepper 1987 ). As too great a challenge or too difficult tasks can cause frustration and unchallenging work can be monotonous, Housand and Housand ( 2012 ) point out the opportunities online programs offer for students: gifted students can attend additional classes and solve harder tasks to achieve their optimal level of challenge (9). One of the mechanisms influencing this aspect is whether the technology at hand is associated with increased skill requirements (Methot and Phillips-Grant 1998 ).

Another mechanism is based on the information technological elements convey (see also technology as a reward). Recognition (10) as a facilitator for motivation is closely connected to feedback (5) and rewards as they can be perceived as symbols of recognition for the performance. Technology can be leveraged to provide recognition, for example, by implementing gamification elements containing achievements, badges, and rewards for individuals (Housand and Housand 2012 ). The act of implementing technologies and placing emphasis on workplace design can also provide recognition (van der Voordt 2003 ).

The feeling of control (11) over one’s individual environment can in fact enhance motivation (Samani et al. 2018 ) while a lack of control may lead to discomfort and demotivation (Argote and Goodman 1986 ; Bala and Venkatesh 2013 ; Knight and Haslam 2010 ; Osterloh and Gerhard 1992 ). A close connection to autonomy (6) can be assumed, as Cascio and Montealegre ( 2016 ) find: “Autonomy is the need to control one’s actions” (p. 356), and Housand and Housand ( 2012 ) even analyze the two concepts as one. Organizations can provide this feeling of control by implementing new technology and accompanying processes. For example, when introducing mobile devices, management can increase the autonomy by offering the free choice of where to work.

Technologies in the workplace can also motivate employees by enabling them to do their job. ICT in particular can provide smooth processes and motivate through means efficacy (12) (Eden et al. 2010 ). Martin’s ( 2017 ) findings point in a similar direction. She shows that technologies facilitating internal information flow increase employees’ introjected regulation and intrinsic motivation. On the other hand, technologies decreasing communication costs (e.g., groupware or intranet) cause negative effects as they provide information access to higher management and make employees feel less empowered.

Yet another approach to understanding motivation is to consider affective aspects. Emotions and other factors play a major role in the flow concept (13) (Csikszentmihalyi 2010 ). The concept describes a cognitive state of focus and enjoyment, like intrinsic motivation. This state can be facilitated by activities and individual preferences as well as by situational aspects. Veitch ( 2018 ), for example, claims that a positive working environment (with regard to lighting and ventilation) can lead to a good mood/pleasure (14) and engages employees with an “intrinsic interest in their work” (Veitch 2018 ). Easy-to-use technology can also contribute to achieving this state (Domínguez et al. 2013 ; Hancock 2009 ; Pacauskas and Rajala 2017 ). The ease of use is determined by—among other factors—an intuitive interface.

5 Discussion

We examined publications from the fields of psychology, management, educational sciences, and facility management. The results from our comprehensive review of the literature show that researchers hold different perspectives on the question of how workplace technologies influence employee motivation.

5.1 Map of the field

After reviewing the past research on work motivation and how it takes workplace technology into account, we propose clustering research into four paradigms. While the distinction is not mutually exclusive in all cases, most of the publications can be assigned to at least one of them.

1. Technology as background music: As described in the process of our literature selection, we find that traditional motivation theories tend to focus on motivation being a result of cognitive processes and individual preferences. Most of the content and process theories can be taken as examples here. Although they promote a person-centered view, situational aspects in general and workplace technologies in particular are mentioned. These researchers acknowledge the influence of these external aspects with varying specification, and some also examine them more closely (Sundstrom 2001 ; Taylor and Westover 2011 ; Wong et al. 2008 ). Yet, in their observations and frameworks, environmental aspects can be compared to background music, i.e., it is there, but in their approaches, technology does not make a difference. While these works were not at the center of our research as they do not focus on technology, it is essential to acknowledge this paradigm as it constitutes a major amount of research.

2. Technology as a hygiene factor: This is a popular paradigm researching the influence of workplace technology by focusing on the negative and health related effects. Mainly considerations based on Herzberg’s findings, the Job-Demands-Control-Model, and publications on ergonomics can be found in this paradigm. These publications all share the view that appropriate physical surroundings are necessary to prevent dissatisfaction and illness, but not to motivate (Herzberg et al. 2017/1959 ). This research was mostly published in scientific journals with an average JCR impact factor of 3.0. While this perspective certainly holds true to a certain extent, both the suspected research artifact of the critical incidents method (Hackman and Oldham 1976 ) and the emergence of new technologies (Knight and Westbrook 2015 ) suggest a more complex connection.

3. Technology as a motivator: A number of publications propose a direct (and positive) impact on employee motivation. Offering the latest gadget as an incentive for high performing employees poses a feasible solution for managers; however, these recommendations mostly do not explain which aspects of this approach are crucial, nor do they take the differences between intrinsic and extrinsic motivation into account. Here, mainly managerial recommendations view technology as a potential reward to improve (extrinsic) motivation and employee retention (DeVoe and Prencipe 2001 ; Houghton et al. 2018 ; Miller et al. 2001 ; O’Donovan 2002 ). Most of these publications are not peer reviewed research and those that are have an average JCR rating of 2.2.

4. Technology as an influencer of mediators : The majority of publications claim an indirect relationship between workplace technology and motivational outcomes. These frameworks mostly build on the Job Characteristics Model, the Self Determination Theory, and needs models (see Table 4 ). The two Job Characteristics ‘Autonomy’ and ‘Skill Variety,’ as well as individual needs are the most frequently mentioned mediators (Schmid and Auburger 2020 ). Researchers representing this perspective mostly based their assumptions on rigorous data and prior research results, which is also reflected by the average JCR rating of 5.0 for these articles. The consideration of a mediating factor can explain some of the complex structures of motivation; however, research does not (yet) follow a predominant paradigm regarding the connection between workplace technologies and motivation.

5.2 Practical implications

Regardless of the individual perspective on the topic, when implementing a new workplace technology or rethinking workplace design, management should consider the effects on employee motivation. These can even be addressed strategically (Kim 2014 ; Mitchell 1997 ; Schmid 2020 ). The literature shows that by choosing suitable technology, Job Characteristics, ergonomics, and needs satisfaction can be facilitated to motivate employees and thereby increase productivity, output quality, or achieve other strategically relevant outcomes. As research results are still fragmented and often include overly specific technologies or overly general constructs, it is difficult to make an overall recommendation. Yet, the results show two aspects applicable to most decision situations managers face when it comes to motivating workplace design:

1. Conscious technology implementation: Modern technologies offer great potential for new processes and interactions. Implementing a new tool has various consequences for other organizational features. While the decision for the “right” technology is important, the way it is implemented and perceived is crucial. How these innovations are perceived depends on aspects such as company culture, leadership style, individual skills, etc. We illustrate this consideration using the (previously mentioned) example of mobile devices: Having a smartphone at hand can empower an employee to access work-related information whenever and wherever he or she wants. This increases autonomy and therefore motivation. At the same time, the very same technology also enables managers to monitor their subordinates more closely and can increase the expectancy to be available at any time. This results in a lack of control for the employee and can cause demotivation (Schmid and Auburger 2020 ). In this case, leadership style mediates the connection between technology and motivation. In addition, the perception of technologies determines whether employees sense opportunities or threats in these innovations (Bala and Venkatesh 2013 ; Cascio and Montealegre 2016 ; Parker and Grote 2020 ). Eden et al. ( 2010 ) conceptualized this relationship as ‘means efficacy’ and showed that believing in the usefulness of a tool can increase efficacy and productivity. For management, this means that these and other aspects need to be considered consciously when implementing new technology or redesigning workplace.

2. Allow employee participation: Depending on the area of work and the individual preferences, every ‘ideal’ workplace looks different. Including employees in the design process can have various effects. First, they have access to a platform to express their individual needs and help select the workplace technology in a manner that achieves needs satisfaction. Second, by giving them control over design decisions, the design process will become motivating in itself.

Providing endless options to create individual workplace settings will be neither financially nor organizationally feasible. We suggest a predefined range of design features complying with company standards—a cafeteria-style workplace (Becker and Steele 1995 ).

Miller et al. ( 2001 ) show that providing choices—even on small and cost-effective features—can be applied successfully in many cases: choosing and arranging furniture or personalizing one’s desk can have a positive effect on motivation.

5.3 Agenda for further research

While this paper provides only a partial examination of the available literature, our structured approach offers a comprehensive picture of existing research. The 67 results show that a person-centered view is still the predominant paradigm. “This is unfortunate, as research in other areas has documented the importance of both the social environment and work context for a wide range of outcomes” (Humphrey et al. 2007 ). The number of calls for research on a holistic perspective is already on the rise. Drawing on these calls and the results presented, we propose the following research questions for future topics:

How can different types of workplace technologies be classified?

When collecting research on the effects of workplace technology, different disciplines address the topic from their individual point of view. The result is a variety of terms and concepts attempting to describe the external influences on motivation (see also Table 3 ). While many authors prefer a general understanding, such as context, situation, or environment, others narrow it down to work-specific terminology, such as workplace, workspace, job/work design, or technology. Almost all these concepts lack a clear and universal understanding.

In this paper, we have already provided a definition of workplace technology. It provides a broad understanding of technology, that is quite suitable for the purpose of this study. However, a taxonomy would offer the opportunity to change the focus of the investigation without changing the terminology. Only a few researchers worked with a clear system that included different technologies based on their functionality or effect. While the approach pursued by Millman and Hartwick ( 1987 ) or Cascio and Montealegre ( 2016 )—to classify technology according to its evolution—is intuitively understandable, it focuses on a certain kind of technology and ignores others. In the aforementioned publications, the focus lies on ICT, while production technologies or ergonomic aspects are neglected. On the other hand, James D Thompson’s technological classification applied by Rousseau ( 1977 , 1978 ) and Pierce et al. ( 1984 ) focuses on the way technology influences processes and tasks. This kind of taxonomy offers the inclusion of various workplace technologies. As the focal point lies on value adding processes, namely ergonomics and real estate, aspects such as office design are not considered.

Providing a comprehensive categorization is challenging, especially at a time when boundaries are blurred and workplace technologies are becoming more diverse than ever before. Yet, achieving this might just be the cornerstone on which to build linking conceptualization.

How do new technologies influence the workplace and therefore affect employee motivation?

Conceptualizing technology influencing mediators seems the most promising perspective of the four schools of thought outlined above. Scholars representing this perspective mostly base their arguments on rigorous research and complex models. However, a holistic framework including both the specifics of workplace technologies and motivational outcomes could help to explain the complex interrelationships. As these concepts are still rare, we recommend combining existing theories and frameworks. Some authors have already made promising advances here. Parker and Ohly ( 2008 ), Diefendorff and Chandler ( 2011 ), Taylor ( 2015 ), and Humphrey et al. ( 2007 ) propose multi-level frameworks including some workplace design characteristics and individual outcomes. These frameworks offer insights on interdependencies between individual, organizational, and external factors. However, the role of workplace technology remains vague.

The paths between workplace technologies and individual outcomes lack understanding (Parker and Ohly 2008 ). Therefore, we propose empirical research based on the insights described in this paper. As prior research has been predominantly quantitative and focused on correlations, qualitative approaches like case studies can help to gain a better understanding of causal relationships.

How do moderators affect the relationship between workplace technology and employee motivation?

Having shown that holistic frameworks are necessary to understand the complex relationship between workplace technology and employee motivation, we would like to emphasize the role of moderators. In our example about the mobile devices, leadership can affect perceptions of the impact workplace technologies have on motivation. This and other organizational aspects have already been examined, such as coworkers or leadership (Amabile and Kramer 2010 ; Csikszentmihalyi 2010 ; Karanika-Murray and Michaelides 2015 ; Maxwell 2008 ), processes or reward systems (Seeck and Diehl 2016 ; Wright and Cordery 1999 ), or organizational climate (Ferris and Gilmore 1984 ), as well as extrinsic workplace attributes, e.g., pay, job security (Amabile et al. 1986 ; Deci and Ryan 1985 ; Taylor and Westover 2011 ), or tasks (Hackman and Oldham 1976 ; Luczak et al. 2012 ; Medsker and Campion 2001 ). These authors provide insights on the role these organizational factors play regarding employee motivation, whereas most of the research excludes workplace technologies.

Other potential moderators might be socioeconomic or cultural aspects. Some authors assume that the relationship between workplace technology and motivation is determined by age. Based on empirical data on more than 3000 managers and professionals, Wong et al. ( 2008 ) identified age-related differences in motivational drivers. Members of the generations X and Y were found to be more motivated by progression and an affiliative workplace than Baby Boomers. Barford and Hester ( 2011 ) support these findings. Moreover, work environment demonstrates a higher overall relevance (after compensation) for the younger employees (Rožman et al. 2017 ). One of the reasons for this might be that the ease in handling technology and the accompanying high speed of communication make the younger generations seem more demanding. Kanfer and Ackerman ( 2004 ) argue in a similar manner: “The differences in work motivation as adults age pertain mainly to the impact of age-related changes in competencies and motives on motivational-processing components.” Being confronted with new technology can therefore cause a dissonance between competences and demands, which might lead to behavior aimed at protecting self-concept rather than progression in later stages of life (Kanfer and Ackerman 2004 ). As these insights are mainly assumptions at this stage, further research on this topic seems both interesting and necessary.

Which aspects of new technology influence the individual work organization and how?

As outlined above, existing research discusses either vague concepts of workplace design elements or the effects of specific technologies. These mostly include office design and ICT applications. The motivational impact of other upcoming technologies lacks scientific understanding and offers a wide field of research opportunities: production technologies like automation systems or robotics as well as promising applications of artificial intelligence, like voice recognition systems, personal virtual assistants, or virtual/augmented reality applications. We believe that these technological trends have unprecedented qualities. In the era of ‘Industrie 4.0’ and ‘Made in China 2025,’ everything is connected and technology is ubiquitous (Brynjolfsson and McAfee 2016 ; Cascio and Montealegre 2016 ; Parker and Grote 2020 ). While this leads to a significant increase in collaborative types of work, these new technologies allow greater opportunities for individualization and autonomous work organization as well (Brown et al. 2017 ). The amount and velocity of new skills needed is greater than ever before (Frey and Osborne 2017 ; Koetsier 2018 ; Leopold et al. 2016 ). To understand these technologies and how their characteristics affect work motivation, we suggest further research. Empirical data on different use cases is necessary.

6 Conclusions

In this paper, we developed a research agenda to include workplace technology in motivation research. No matter how workplace technologies are defined, many researchers emphasize the need for individualization. What one employee perceives as the optimal workplace design might be perceived as dissatisfying to another. The person-environment fit plays a major role (Samani et al. 2018 ). The toys vs. tools approach from Malone and Lepper ( 1987 ) and research on the ‘sense of place’ (Miller et al. 2001 ) shows how technologies can be perceived individually and help to explain different effects on employees. Current and future technologies provide individualized solutions and applications, and therefore the opportunity to address individual needs and motivation in the workplace. The advances in robotics, ICT, and artificial intelligence can pave the way towards motivational workplace design, instead of acting only as a restriction to change processes and job characteristics (Daugherty and Wilson 2018 ).

The highly volatile job market and fast changing environment pose increasing uncertainty for individuals and a need for lifelong education. With creative tasks and knowledge-based jobs on the rise, creativity emerges as an essential requirement—employees need to be highly intrinsically motivated to meet these requirements (Amabile et al. 1986 ). Creating a motivating workplace can be a sustainable investment for a company’s decision maker. Whereas further research is needed, it is not necessarily the physical environment in itself that might be the motivating factor, but the way it is perceived and the power to influence it (Brill et al. 1984 ; Knight and Haslam 2010 ) as well as the way it shapes job characteristics and addresses needs (van der Voordt 2003 ). Both researchers and managers need to take these aspects into account to generate fruitful research and sustainable workplace strategies. Workplace technology needs to be more than just background music in the future.

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Acknowledgements

We wish to thank various people for their contribution to this project; Steffi Steinhauser and Julia Oehler for their encouragement and persistent help. Special thanks should be given to Suzanne Weinberger and the reviewer for their useful and constructive recommendations on this project.

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Schmid, Y., Dowling, M. New work: New motivation? A comprehensive literature review on the impact of workplace technologies. Manag Rev Q 72 , 59–86 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11301-020-00204-7

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Researchers take major step toward developing next-generation solar cells

The solar energy world is ready for a revolution. Scientists are racing to develop a new type of solar cell using materials that can convert electricity more efficiently than today's panels.

In a new paper published February 26 in the journal Nature Energy , a University of Colorado Boulder researcher and his international collaborators unveiled an innovative method to manufacture the new solar cells, known as perovskite cells, an achievement critical for the commercialization of what many consider the next generation of solar technology.

Today, nearly all solar panels are made from silicon, which boast an efficiency of 22%. This means silicon panels can only convert about one-fifth of the sun's energy into electricity, because the material absorbs only a limited proportion of sunlight's wavelengths. Producing silicon is also expensive and energy intensive.

Enter perovskite. The synthetic semiconducting material has the potential to convert substantially more solar power than silicon at a lower production cost.

"Perovskites might be a game changer," said Michael McGehee, a professor in the Department of Chemical and Biological Engineering and fellow with CU Boulder's Renewable & Sustainable Energy Institute.

Scientists have been testing perovskite solar cells by stacking them on top of traditional silicon cells to make tandem cells. Layering the two materials, each absorbing a different part of the sun's spectrum, can potentially increase the panels' efficiency by over 50%.

"We're still seeing rapid electrification, with more cars running off electricity. We're hoping to retire more coal plants and eventually get rid of natural gas plants," said McGehee. "If you believe that we're going to have a fully renewable future, then you're planning for the wind and solar markets to expand by at least five to ten- fold from where it is today."

To get there, he said, the industry must improve the efficiency of solar cells.

But a major challenge in making them from perovskite at a commercial scale is the process of coating the semiconductor onto the glass plates which are the building blocks of panels. Currently, the coating process has to take place in a small box filled with non-reactive gas, such as nitrogen, to prevent the perovskites from reacting with oxygen, which decreases their performance.

"This is fine at the research stage. But when you start coating large pieces of glass, it gets harder and harder to do this in a nitrogen filled box," McGehee said.

McGehee and his collaborators set off to find a way to prevent that damaging reaction with the air. They found that adding dimethylammonium formate, or DMAFo, to the perovskite solution before coating could prevent the materials from oxidizing. This discovery enables coating to take place outside the small box, in ambient air. Experiments showed that perovskite cells made with the DMAFo additive can achieve an efficiency of nearly 25% on their own, comparable to the current efficiency record for perovskite cells of 26%.

The additive also improved the cells' stability.

Commercial silicon panels can typically maintain at least 80% of their performance after 25 years, losing about 1% of efficiency per year. Perovskite cells, however, are more reactive and degrade faster in the air. The new study showed that the perovskite cell made with DMAFo retained 90% of its efficiency after the researchers exposed them to LED light that mimicked sunlight for 700 hours. In contrast, cells made in the air without DMAFo degraded quickly after only 300 hours.

While this is a very encouraging result, there are 8,000 hours in one year, he noted. So longer tests are needed to determine how these cells hold up overtime.

"It's too early to say that they are as stable as silicon panels, but we're on a good trajectory toward that," McGehee said.

The study brings perovskite solar cells one step closer to commercialization. At the same time, McGehee's team is actively developing tandem cells with a real-world efficiency of over 30% that have the same operational lifetime as silicon panels.

McGehee leads a U.S. academic-industry partnership called Tandems for Efficient and Advanced Modules using Ultrastable Perovskites (TEAMUP). Together with researchers from three other universities, two companies and a national laboratory, the consortium received $9 million funding from the U.S. Department of Energy last year to develop stable tandem perovskites that can feasibly be used in the real world and are commercially viable. The goal is to create tandem more efficient than conventional silicon panels and equally stable over a 25-year period.

With higher efficiency and potentially lower price tags, these tandem cells could have broader applications than existing silicon panels, including potential installation on the roofs of electric vehicles. They could add 15 to 25 miles of range per day to a car left out in the sun, enough to cover many people's daily commutes. Drones and sailboats could also be powered by such panels.

After a decade of research in perovskites, engineers have built perovskite cells that are as efficient as silicon cells, which were invented 70 years ago, McGehee said. "We are taking perovskites to the finish line. If tandems work out well, they certainly have the potential to dominate the market and become the next generation of solar cells," he said.

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Materials provided by University of Colorado at Boulder . Original written by Yvaine Ye. Note: Content may be edited for style and length.

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• Hongguang Meng, Kaitian Mao, Fengchun Cai, Kai Zhang, Shaojie Yuan, Tieqiang Li, Fangfang Cao, Zhenhuang Su, Zhengjie Zhu, Xingyu Feng, Wei Peng, Jiahang Xu, Yan Gao, Weiwei Chen, Chuanxiao Xiao, Xiaojun Wu, Michael D. McGehee, Jixian Xu. Inhibition of halide oxidation and deprotonation of organic cations with dimethylammonium formate for air-processed p–i–n perovskite solar cells . Nature Energy , 2024; DOI: 10.1038/s41560-024-01471-4

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Nanotechnology: A Revolution in Modern Industry

Shiza malik.

1 Bridging Health Foundation, Rawalpindi 46000, Pakistan

Khalid Muhammad

2 Department of Biology, College of Science, UAE University, Al Ain 15551, United Arab Emirates

Yasir Waheed

3 Office of Research, Innovation, and Commercialization (ORIC), Shaheed Zulfiqar Ali Bhutto Medical University (SZABMU), Islamabad 44000, Pakistan

4 Gilbert and Rose-Marie Chagoury School of Medicine, Lebanese American University, Byblos 1401, Lebanon

Associated Data

Not applicable.

Nanotechnology, contrary to its name, has massively revolutionized industries around the world. This paper predominantly deals with data regarding the applications of nanotechnology in the modernization of several industries. A comprehensive research strategy is adopted to incorporate the latest data driven from major science platforms. Resultantly, a broad-spectrum overview is presented which comprises the diverse applications of nanotechnology in modern industries. This study reveals that nanotechnology is not limited to research labs or small-scale manufacturing units of nanomedicine, but instead has taken a major share in different industries. Companies around the world are now trying to make their innovations more efficient in terms of structuring, working, and designing outlook and productivity by taking advantage of nanotechnology. From small-scale manufacturing and processing units such as those in agriculture, food, and medicine industries to larger-scale production units such as those operating in industries of automobiles, civil engineering, and environmental management, nanotechnology has manifested the modernization of almost every industrial domain on a global scale. With pronounced cooperation among researchers, industrialists, scientists, technologists, environmentalists, and educationists, the more sustainable development of nano-based industries can be predicted in the future.

1. Introduction

Nanotechnology has slowly yet deeply taken over different industries worldwide. This rapid pace of technological revolution can especially be seen in the developed world, where nano-scale markets have taken over rapidly in the past decade. Nanotechnology is not a new concept since it has now become a general-purpose technology. Four generations of nanomaterials have emerged on the surface and are used in interdisciplinary scientific fields; these are active and passive nanoassemblies, general nanosystems, and small-scale molecular nanosystems [ 1 ].

This rapid development of nanoscience is proof that, soon, nano-scale manufacturing will be incorporated into almost every domain of science and technology. This review article will cover the recent advanced applications of nanotechnology in different industries, mainly agriculture, food, cosmetics, medicine, healthcare, automotive, oil and gas industries, chemical, and mechanical industries [ 2 , 3 ]. Moreover, a brief glimpse of the drawbacks of nanotechnology will be highlighted for each industry to help the scientific community become aware of the ills and benefits of nanotechnology side by side. Nanotechnology is a process that combines the basic attributes of biological, physical, and chemical sciences. These processes occur at the minute scale of nanometers. Physically, the size is reduced; chemically, new bonds and chemical properties are governed; and biological actions are produced at the nano scale, such as drug bonding and delivery at particular sites [ 4 , 5 ].

Nanotechnology provides a link between classical and quantum mechanics in a gray area called a mesoscopic system. This mesoscopic system is being used to manufacture nanoassemblies of nature such as agricultural products, nanomedicine, and nanotools for treatment and diagnostic purposes in the medical industry [ 6 ]. Diseases that were previously untreatable are now being curtailed via nano-based medications and diagnostic kits. This technology has greatly affected bulk industrial manufacturing and production as well. Instead of manufacturing materials by cutting down on massive amounts of material, nanotechnology uses the reverse engineering principle, which operates in nature. It allows the manufacturing of products at the nano scale, such as atoms, and then develops products to work at a deeper scale [ 7 ].

Worldwide, millions and billions of dollars and euros are being spent in nanotechnology to utilize the great potential of this new science, especially in the developed world in Europe, China, and America [ 8 ]. However, developing nations are still lagging behind as they are not even able to meet the industrial progression of the previous decade [ 9 ]. This lag is mainly because these countries are still fighting economically, and they need some time to walk down the road of nanotechnology. However, it is pertinent to say that both the developed and developing world’s scientific communities agree that nanotechnology will be the next step in technological generation [ 10 ]. This will make further industrial upgrading and investment in the field of nanotechnology indispensable in the coming years.

With advances in science and technology, the scientific community adopts technologies and products that are relatively cheap, safe, and cleaner than previous technologies. Moreover, they are concerned about the financial standing of technologies, as natural resources in the world are shrinking excessively [ 11 ]. Nanotechnology thus provides a gateway to this problem. This technology is clear, cleaner, and more affordable compared to previous mass bulking and heavy machinery. Moreover, nanotechnology holds the potential to be implemented in every aspect of life. This will mainly include nanomaterial sciences, nanoelectronics, and nanomedicine, being inculcated in all dimensions of chemistry and the physical and biological world [ 12 ]. Thus, it is not wrong to predict that nanotechnology will become a compulsory field of study for future generations [ 13 ]. This review inculcates the basic applications of nanotechnology in vital industries worldwide and their implications for future industrial progress [ 14 ].

2. Nanotechnology Applications

2.1. applications of nanotechnology in different industries.

After thorough and careful analyses, a wide range of industries—in which nanotechnology is producing remarkable applications—have been studied, reviewed, and selected to be made part of this review. It should be notified that multiple subcategories of industrial links may be discussed under one heading to elaborate upon the wide-scale applications of nanotechnology in different industries. A graphical abstract at the beginning of this article indicates the different industries in which nanotechnology is imparting remarkable implications, details of which are briefly discussed under different headings in the next session.

2.2. Nanotechnology and Computer Industry

Nanotechnology has taken its origins from microengineering concepts in physics and material sciences [ 15 ]. Nanoscaling is not a new concept in the computer industry, as technologists and technicians have been working for a long time to design such modified forms of computer-based technologies that require minimum space for the most efficient work. Resultantly, the usage of nanotubes instead of silicon chips is being increasingly experimented upon in computer devices. Feynman and Drexler’s work has greatly inspired computer scientists to design revolutionary nanocomputers from which wide-scale advantages could be attained [ 13 ]. A few years ago, it was an unimaginable to consider laptops, mobiles, and other handy gadgets as thin as we have today, and it is impossible for even the common man to think that with the passage of time, more advanced, sophisticated, and lighter computer devices will be commonly used. Nanotechnology holds the potential to make this possible [ 16 ].

Energy-efficient, sustainable, and urbanized technologies have been emerging since the beginning of the 21st century. The improvement via nanotechnology in information and communication technology (ICT) is noteworthy in terms of the improvements achieved in interconnected communities, economic competitiveness, environmental stability during demographic shifts, and global development [ 17 ]. The major implications of renewable technology incorporate the roles of ICT and nanotechnology as enablers of environmental sustainability. The traditional methods of product resizing, re-functioning, and enhanced computational capabilities, due to their expensiveness and complicated manufacturing traits, have slowly been replaced by nanotechnological renovations. Novel technologies such as smart sensors logic elements, nanochips, memory storage nanodevices, optoelectronics, quantum computing, and lab-on-a-chip technologies are important in this regard [ 18 ].

Both private and public spending are increasing in the field of nanocomputing. The growth of marketing and industrialization in the biotechnology and computer industries are running in parallel, and their expected growth rates for the coming years are far higher. Researchers and technologists believe that by linking the advanced field of nanotechnology and informatics and computational industries, various problems in human society such as basic need fulfillment can be easily accomplished in line with the establishment of sustainable goals by the end of this decade [ 19 ]. The fourth industrial revolution is based upon the supporting pillars derived from hyperphysical systems including artificial intelligence, machine learning, the internet of things, robots, drones, cloud computing, fast internet technologies (5G and 6G), 3D printing, and block chain technologies [ 20 ].

Most of these technologies have a set basis in computing, nanotechnology, biotechnology, material science renovations, and satellite technologies. Nanotechnology offers useful alterations in the physiochemical, mechanical, magnetic, electrical, and optical properties of computing materials which enable innovative and newer products [ 21 ]. Thus, nanotechnology is providing a pathway for another broad-spectrum revolution in the field of automotive, aerospace, renewable energy, information technology, bioinformatics, and environmental management, all of which have root origins from nanotechnological improvements in computers. Sensors involved in software and data algorithms employ nanomaterials to induce greater sensitivity and processabilities with minimal margin-to-machine errors [ 22 ]. Nanomaterials provide better characteristics and robustness to sensor technologies which mean they are chemically inert, corrosion-resistant, and have greater tolerance profiles toward temperature and alkalinity [ 22 ].

Moreover, the use of semiconductor nanomaterials in the field of quantum computing has increased overall processing speeds with better accuracy and transmissibility. These technologies offer the creation of different components and communication protocols at the nano level, which is often called the internet of nano things [ 23 ]. This area is still in a continuous development and improvement phase with the potential for telecommunication, industrial, and medical applications. This field has taken its origin from the internet of things, which is a hyperphysical world of sensors, software, and other related technologies which allow broad-scale communication via internet operating devices [ 17 ]. The applications of these technologies range from being on the simple home scale to being on the complex industrial scale. The internet of things is mainly capable of gathering and distributing large-scale data via internet-based equipment and modern gadgets. In short, the internet of nano things is applicable to software, hardware, and network connection which could be used for data manipulation, collection, and sharing across the globe [ 24 ].

Another application of nanotechnology in the computer and information industry comes in the form of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and big data platforms which have set the basis for the fourth industrial revolution. Vast amounts of raw data are collected through interconnected robotic devices, sensors, and machines which have properties of nanomaterials [ 18 ]. After wide-scale data gathering, the next step is the amalgamation of the internet of things and the internet of people to prepare a greater analysis, understanding, and utilization of the gathered information for human benefit [ 4 ]. Such data complications can be easily understood through the use of big data in the medical industry, in which epidemiological data provide benefits for disease management [ 2 ]. Yet another example is the applications in business, where sales and retail-related data help to elucidate the target markets, sales industry, and consumer behavioral inferences for greater market consumption patterns [ 19 ].

Similarly, an important dimension of nanotechnology and computer combination comes in the form of drone and robotics technology. These technologies have a rising number of applications in maintenance, inspections, transportation, deliverability, and data inspection [ 25 ]. Drones, robots, and the internet of things are being perfectly amalgamated with the industrial sector to achieve greater goals. Drones tend to be more mobile but rely more on human control as compared to robots, which are less mobile but have larger potential for self-operation [ 26 ]. However, now, more mobile drones with better autonomous profiles are being developed to help out in the domain of manufacturing industries. These devices intensify and increase the pace of automation and precision in industries along with providing the benefits of lower costs and fewer errors [ 24 ]. The integrated fields of robotics, the internet of things, and nanotechnology are often called the internet of robotics and nano things. This field of nanorobotics is increasing the flexibility and dexterity in manufacturing processes compared to traditional robotics [ 25 ].

Drones, on the contrary, help to manage tasks that are otherwise difficult or dangerous to be managed by humans, such as working from a far distance or in dangerous regions. Nanosensors help to equip drones with the qualities of improved detection and sensation more precisely than previous sensor technologies [ 21 , 27 ]. Moreover, the over-potential of working hours, battery, and maintenance have also been improved with the operationalization of nano-based sensors in drone technology. These drones are inclusively used for various purposes such as maintaining operations, employing safety profiling, security surveys, and mapping areas [ 18 ]. However, limitations such as high speed, legal and ethical limitations, safety concerns, and greater automobility are some of the drawbacks of aerial and robotic drone technologies [ 26 ].

Three-dimensional printing is yet another important application of the nanocomputer industry, in which an integrated modus operandi works to help in production management [ 28 ]. Nanotechnology-based 3D printing offers the benefits of an autonomous, integrated, intelligent exchange network of information which enables wide-scale production benefits. These technologies have enabled a lesser need for industrial infrastructure, minimized post-processing operations, reduced waste material generation, and reduced need for human presence for overall industrial management [ 28 , 29 ]. Moreover, the benefits of 3D printing and similar technologies have potentially increased flexibility in terms of customized items, minimal environmental impacts, and sustainable practices with lower resource and energy consumption. The use of nano-scale and processed resins, metallic raw material, and thermoplastics along with other raw materials allow for customized properties of 3D printing technology [ 29 ].

The application of nanotechnology in computers cannot be distinguished from other industrial applications, because everything in modern industries is controlled by a systemic network in association with a network of computers and similar technologies. Thus, the fields of electronics, manufacturing, processing, and packaging, among several others, are interlinked with nanocomputer science [ 11 , 15 ]. Silicon tubes have had immense applications that revolutionized the industrial revolution in the 20th century; now, the industrial revolution is in yet another revolutionary phase based on nanostructures [ 16 ]. Silicon tubes have been slowly replaced with nanotubes, which are allowing a great deal of improvement and efficiency in computing technology. Similarly, lab-on-a-chip technology and memory chips are being formulated at nano scales to lessen the storage space but increase the storage volume within a small, flexible, and easily workable chip in computers for their subsequent applications in multiple other industries.

Hundreds of nanotechnology computer-related products have been marketed in the last 20 years of the nanotechnological revolution [ 30 ]. Modern industries such as textiles, automotive, civil engineering, construction, solar technologies, environmental applications, medicine, transportation agriculture, and food processing, among others are largely reaping the benefits of nano-scale computer chips and other devices. In simple terms, everything out there in nanoindustrial applications has something to do with computer-based applications in the nanoindustry [ 31 , 32 , 33 ]. Thus, all the applications discussed in this review more or less originate from nanocomputers. These applications are enabling considerable improvement and positive reports within the industrial sector. Having said that, it is hoped that computer scientists will remain engaged and will keep on collaborating with scientists in other fields to further explore the opportunities associated with nanocomputer sciences.

2.3. Nanotechnology and Bioprocessing Industries

Scientific and engineering rigor is being carried out to the link fields of nanotechnology with contributions to the bioprocessing industry. Researchers are interested in how the basics of nanomaterials could be used for the high-quality manufacturing of food and other biomaterials [ 15 , 34 ]. Pathogenic identification, food monitoring, biosensor devices, and smart packaging materials, especially those that are reusable and biodegradable, and the nanoencapsulation of active food compounds are only a few nanotechnological applications which have been the prime focus of the research community in recent years. Eventually, societal acceptability and dealing with social, cultural, and ethical concerns will allow the successful delivery of nano-based bio-processed products into the common markets for public usage [ 20 , 35 ].

With the increasing population worldwide, food requirements are increasing in addition to the concerns regarding the production of safe, healthy, and recurring food options. Sensors and diagnostic devices will help improve the sensitivity in food quality monitoring [ 36 ]. Moreover, the fake industrial application of food products could be easily scanned out of a system with the application of nanotechnology which could control brand protection throughout bio-processing [ 6 ]. The power usage in food production might also be controlled after a total nanotechnological application in the food industry. The decrease in power consumption would ultimately be positive for the environment. This could directly bring in the interplay of environment, food, and nanotechnology and would help to reduce environmental concerns in future [ 37 ].

One of the important implications of nanotechnology in bioprocessing industries can be accustomed to fermentation processes; these technologies are under usage for greater industrial demand and improved biomolecule production at a very low cost, unlike traditional fermentation processes [ 35 ]. The successful implementation and integration of fermentation and nanotechnology have allowed the development of biocompatible, safe, and nontoxic substances and nanostructures with wide-scale application in the field of food, bioprocessing, and winemaking industries [ 38 ]. Another important application is in the food monitoring and food supply chain management, present in various subsectors such as production, storage, distribution, and toxicity management. Nanodevices and nanomaterials are incorporated into chemical and biological sensor technologies to improve overall analytical performance with regard to parameters such as response time, sensitivity, selectivity, accuracy, and reliability [ 39 ]. The conventional methods of food monitoring are slowly being replaced with modern nano-based materials such as nanowires, nanocomposites, nanotubes, nanorods, nanosheets, and other materials that function to immobilize and label components [ 40 ]. These methods are either electrochemically or optically managed. For food monitoring, several assays are proposed and implemented with their roots in nano-based technologies; they may include molecular and diagnostic assays, immunological assays, and electrochemical and optical assays such as surface-enhanced Raman scattering and colorimetry technologies [ 34 ]. Materials ranging from heavy materials to microorganisms, pesticides, allergens, and antibiotics are easily monitored during commercial processing and bioprocessing in industries.

Additionally, nanotechnology has presented marvelous transformations in bio-composting materials. With the rising demand for biodegradable composites worldwide to reduce the environmental impact and increase the efficiency of industrial output, there is an increasing need for sustainable technologies [ 41 ]. Nanocomposites are thus being formulated with valuable mechanical properties better than conventional polymers, thus establishing their applicability in industries. The improved properties include optical, mechanical, catalytic, electrochemical, and electrical ones [ 42 ]. These biodegradable polymers are not only used in bioprocessing industries to create food products with relevant benefits but are also being deployed in the biomedical field, therapeutic industries, biotechnology base tissue engineering field, packing, sensor industries, drug delivery technology, water remediation, food industries, and cosmetics industries as well [ 2 , 24 , 34 , 43 ]. These nanocomposites have outstanding characteristics of biocompatibility, lower toxicities, antimicrobial activity, thermal resistance, and overall improved biodegradation properties which make them worthy of applications in products [ 44 ]. However, it is still imperative to conduct wide-scale toxicity and safety profiling for these and other nanomaterials to ensure the safety requirements, customer satisfaction, and public benefit are met [ 44 ].

Moreover, the advancement of nanotechnology has also been conferred to the development of functional food items. The exposure and integration of nanotechnology and the food industry have resulted in larger quantities of sustainable, safer, and healthier food products for human consumption, which is a growing need for the rising population worldwide [ 45 ]. The overall positive impact of nanotechnology in food processing, manufacturing, packing, pathogenic detection, monitoring, and production profiles necessitates the wide-scale application of this technology in the food industry worldwide [ 4 , 41 ]. Recent research has shown how the delivery of bioactive compounds and essential ingredients is and can be improved by the application of nanomaterials (nanoencapsulation) in food products [ 46 ]. These technologies improve the protection performance and sensitivity of bioactive ingredients while preventing unnecessary interaction with other constituents of foods, thus establishing clear-cut improved bioactivity and solubility profiles of nanofoods, thereby improving human health benefits. However, it should be kept in mind that the safety regards of these food should be carefully regulated with safety profiling, as they directly interact with human bodies [ 47 ].

2.4. Nanotechnology and Agri-Industries

Agriculture is the backbone of the economies of various nations around the globe. It is a major contributing factor to the world economy in general and plays a critical role in population maintenance by providing nutritional needs to them. As global weather patterns are changing owing to the dramatic changes caused by global warming, it is accepted that agriculture will be greatly affected [ 48 ]. Under this scenario, it is always better to take proactive measures to make agricultural practices more secure and sustainable than before. Modern technology is thus being employed worldwide. Nanotechnology has also come to play an effective role in this interplay of sustainable technologies. It plays an important role during the production, processing, storing, packaging, and transport of agricultural industrial products [ 49 ].

Nanotechnology has introduced certain precision farming techniques to enhance plant nutrients’ absorbance, alongside better pathogenic detection against agricultural diseases. Fertilizers are being improved by the application of nanoclays and zeolites which play effective roles in soil nutrient broths and in the restoration soil fertility [ 49 ]. Modern concepts of smart seeds and seed banks are also programmed to germinate under favorable conditions for their survival; nanopolymeric mixtures are used for coating in these scenarios [ 50 ]. Herbicides, pesticides, fungicides, and insecticides are also being revolutionized through nanotechnology applications. It has also been considered to upgrade linked fields of poultry and animal husbandry via the application of nanotechnology in treatment and disinfection practices.

2.5. Nanotechnology and Food Industry

The applications of nanotechnology in the food industry are immense and include food manufacturing, packaging, safety measures, drug delivery to specific sites [ 51 ], smart diets, and other modern preservatives, as summarized in Figure 1 . Nanomaterials such as polymer/clay nanocomposites are used in packing materials due to their high barrier properties against environmental impacts [ 52 ]. Similarly, nanoparticle mixtures are used as antimicrobial agents to protect stored food products against rapid microbial decay, especially in canned products. Similarly, several nanosensor and nano-assembly-based assays are used for microbial detection processes in food storage and manufacturing industries [ 53 ].

Nanotechnology applications in food and interconnected industries.

Nanoassemblies hold the potential to detect small gasses and organic and inorganic residues alongside microscopic pathogenic entities [ 54 ]. It should, however, be kept in mind that most of these nanoparticles are not directly added to food species because of the risk of toxicity that may be attached to such metallic nanoparticles. Work is being carried out to predict the toxicity attached, so that in the future, these products’ market acceptability could be increased [ 55 ]. With this, it is pertinent to say that nanotechnology is rapidly taking steps into the food industry for packing, sensing, storage, and antimicrobial applications [ 56 ].

Nanotechnology is also revolutionizing the dairy industry worldwide [ 57 ]. An outline of potential applications of nanotechnology in the dairy industry may include: improved processing methods, improved food contact and mixing, better yields, the increased shelf life and safety of dairy-based products, improved packaging, and antimicrobial resistance [ 58 ]. Additionally, nanocarriers are increasingly applied to transfer biologically active substances, drugs, enhanced flavors, colors, odors, and other food characteristics to dairy products [ 59 ].

These compounds exhibit higher delivery, solubility, and absorption properties to their targeted system. However, the problem of public acceptability due to the fear of unknown or potential side effects associated with nano-based dairy and food products needs to be addressed for the wider-scale commercialization of these products [ 60 ].

2.5.1. Nanotechnology, Poultry and Meat Industry

The poultry industry is a big chunk of the food industry and contributes millions of dollars every year to food industries around the world. Various commercial food chains are running throughout the world, the bases of which start from healthy poultry industries. The incidence of widespread foodborne diseases that originate from poultry, milk, and meat farms is a great concern for the food industry. Nanobiotechnology is certainly playing a productive role in tackling food pathogens such as those which procreate from Salmonella and Campylobacter infections by allowing increased poultry consumption while maintaining the affordability and safety of manufactured chicken products [ 61 ]. Several nano-based tools and materials such as nano-enabled disinfectants, surface biocides, protective clothing, air and water filters, packaging materials, biosensors, and detective devices are being used to confirm the authenticity and traceability of poultry products [ 62 ]. Moreover, nano-based materials are used to reduce foodborne pathogens and spoilage organisms before the food becomes part of the supply chain [ 63 ].

2.5.2. Nanotechnology—Fruit and Vegetable Industry

As already described, nanotechnology has made its way far ahead in the food industry. The agricultural, medicinal, and fruit and vegetable industries cannot remain unaffected under this scenario. Scientists are trying to increase the shelf life of fresh organic products to fulfill the nutritional needs of a growing population. From horticulture to food processing, packaging, and pathogenic detection technology, nanotechnology plays a vital role in the safety and production of vegetables and fruits [ 64 ].

Conventional technologies are now being replaced with nanotechnology due to their benefits of cost-effectiveness, satisfactory results, and overall shelf life improvement compared to past practices. Although some risks may be attached, nanotechnology has not yet reported high-grade toxicity to organic fresh green products. These technologies serve the purpose of providing safe and sufficient food sources to customers while reducing postharvest wastage, which is a major concern in developing nations [ 55 ]. Nanopackaging provides the benefits of lower humidity, oxygen passage, and optimal water vapor transmission rates. Hence, in the longer run, the shelf life of such products is increased to the desired level using nanotechnology [ 65 ].

2.5.3. Nanotechnology and Winemaking Industry

The winemaking industry is a big commercial application of the food industry worldwide. The usage of nanotechnology is also expanding in this industry. Nanotechnology serves the purpose of sensing technology through employment as nanoelectronics, nanoelectrochemical, and biological, amperometric, or fluorimetric sensors. These nanomaterials help to analyze the wine components, including polyphenols, organic acids, biogenic amines, or sulfur dioxide, and ensure they are at appropriate levels during the production of wine and complete processing [ 66 ].

Efforts are being made to further improve sensing nanotechnology to increase the accuracy, selectivity, sensitivity, and rapid response rate for wine sampling, production, and treatment procedures [ 53 ]. Specific nanoassemblies that are used in winemaking industries include carbon nanorods, nanodots, nanotubes, and metallic nanoparticles such as gold, silver, zinc oxide, iron oxide, and other types of nanocomposites. Recent research studies have introduced the concept of electronic tongues, nanoliquid chromatography, mesoporous silica, and applications of magnetic nanoparticles in winemaking products [ 67 ]. An elaborative account of these nanomaterials is out of the scope of the present study; however, on a broader scale, it is not wrong to say that nanotechnology is successfully reaping in the field of enology.

2.6. Nanotechnology and Packaging Industries

The packaging industry is continuously under improvement since the issue of environmentalism has been raised around the globe. Several different concerns are linked to the packaging industry; primarily, packaging should provide food safety to deliver the best quality to the consumer end. In addition, packaging needs to be environmentally friendly to reduce the food-waste-related pollution concern and to make the industrial processes more sustainable. Trials are being carried out to reduce the burden by replacing non-biodegradable plastic packaging materials with eco-friendly organic biopolymer-based materials which are processed at the nano scale to incur the beneficial properties of nanotechnology [ 68 ].

The nanomanufacturing of packaging biomaterials has proven effective in food packaging industries, as nanomanufacturing not only contributes to increasing food safety and production but also tackles environmental issues [ 69 ]. Some examples of these packaging nanomaterials may include anticaking agents, nanoadditives, delivery systems for nutraceuticals, and many more. The nanocompositions of packing materials are formed by mixing nanofillers and biopolymers to enhance packaging’s functionality [ 70 ]. Nanomaterials with antimicrobial properties are preferred in these cases, and they are mixed with a polymer to prevent the contamination of the packaged material. It is important to mention here that this technology is not only limited to food packaging; instead, packaging nanotechnology is now also being introduced in certain other industries such as textile, leather, and cosmetic industries in which it is providing large benefits to those industries [ 64 ].

2.7. Nanotechnology and Construction Industry and Civil Engineering

Efficient construction is the new normal application for sustainable development. The incorporation of nanomaterials in the construction industry is increasing to further the sustainability concern [ 71 ]. Nanomaterials are added to act as binding agents in cement. These nanoparticles enhance the chemical and physical properties of strength, durability, and workability for the long-lasting potential of the construction industry. Materials such as silicon dioxide which were previously also in use are now manufactured at the nano scale [ 71 ]. These nanostructures along with polymeric additives increase the density and stability of construction suspension [ 72 ]. The aspect of sustainable development is being applied to the manufacture of modern technologies coupled with beneficial applications of nanotechnology. This concept has produced novel isolative and smart window technologies which have driven roots in nanoengineering, such as vacuum insulation panels (VIPs) and phase change materials (PCMs), which provide thermal insulation effects and thus save energy and improve indoor air quality in homes [ 73 ].

A few of the unique properties of nanomaterials in construction include light structure, strengthened structural composition, low maintenance requirements, resistant coatings, improved pipe and bridge joining materials, improved cementitious materials, extensive fire resistance, sound absorption, and insulation properties, as well as the enhanced reflectivity of glass surfaces [ 74 ]. As elaborated under the heading of civil engineering applications, concrete’s properties are the most commonly discussed and widely changing in the construction industry because of concrete’s minute structure, which can be easily converted to the nano scale [ 75 ]. More specifically, the combination of nano-SiO 2 in cement could improve its performance in terms of compressiveness, large volumes with increased compressiveness, improved pore size distribution, and texture strength [ 76 ].

Moreover, some studies are also being carried out to improve the cracking properties of concrete by the application of microencapsulated healing polymers, which reduce the cracking properties of cement [ 77 ]. Moreover, some other construction materials, such as steel, are undergoing research to change their structural composites through nano-scale manufacturing. This nanoscaling improves steel’s properties such as improved corrosion resistance, increased weldability, the ease of handling for designing building materials, and construction work [ 78 ]. Additionally, coating materials have been improved by being manufactured at the nano scale. This has led to different improved coating properties such as functional improvement; anticorrosive action; high-temperature, fire, scratch, and abrasion resistance; antibacterial and antifouling self-healing capabilities; and self-assembly, among other useful applications [ 79 ].

Nanotechnology improves the compressive flexural properties of cement and reduces its porosity, making it absorb less water compared to traditional cementation preparations. This is because of the high surface-to-volume ratio of nanosized particles. Such an approach helps in reducing the amount of cement in concrete, making it more cost-effective, more strengthening, and eco-friendly, known as ‘green concrete’. Besides concrete, the revolutionary characteristics of nanotechnology are now also being adopted in other construction materials such as steel, glass, paper, wood, and multiple other engineering materials to upgrade the construction industry [ 80 ].

Similarly, carbon nanotubes, nanorods, and nanofibers are rapidly replacing steel constructions. These nanostructures along with nanoclay formations increase the mechanical properties and thus have paved the way for a new branch of civil engineering in terms of nanoengineering [ 80 ]. Apart from cement formulations, nanoparticles are included in repair mortars and concrete with healing properties that help in crack recovery in buildings. Furthermore, nanostructures, titanium dioxide, zinc, and other metallic oxides are being employed for the production of photocatalytic products with antipathogenic, self-cleaning, and water- and germ-repellent built-in technologies [ 33 ]. Similarly, quantum dot technologies are progressively employed for solar energy generation (a concept discussed later). These photovoltaic cells contribute to saving the maximum amount of solar energy [ 81 ].

2.8. Nanotechnology and Textiles Industry

The textile industry achieved glory in the 21st century with enormous outgrowth through social media platforms. Large brands have taken over the market worldwide, and millions are earned every year through textile industries. With the passing of time, nanotechnology is being slowly incorporated into the textile fiber industry owing to its unique and valuable properties. Previously, fabrics manufactured via conventional methods often curtailed the temporary effects of durability and quality [ 82 ]. However, the age of nanotechnology has allowed these fabric industries to employ nanotechnology to provide high durability, flexibility, and quality to clothes which is not lost upon laundering and wearing. The high surface-to-volume ratio of nanomaterials keeps high surface energy and thus provides better affinity to their fabrics, leading to long-term durability [ 82 ]. Moreover, a thin layering and coating of nanoparticles on the fabric make them breathable and make them smooth to the touch. This layering is carried out by processes such as printing, washing, padding, rinsing, drying, and curing to attach nanoparticles on the fabric surface. These processes are carried out to impart the properties of water repellence, soil resistance, flame resistance, hydrophobicity, wrinkle resistance, antibacterial and antistatic properties, and increased dyeability to the clothes [ 83 ].

The unique properties of nanomaterials in textile industries have attracted large-scale businesses for the financial benefits attached to their application. For this reason, competitors are increasing in nanotextile industry speedily, which may make the conventional textile industry sidelined in the near future [ 84 ]. Some benefits associated with nanotextile engineering and industry may include: improved cleaning surfaces, soil, wrinkle, stain, and color damage resistance, higher wettability and strike-through characteristics, malodor- and soil-removal abilities, abrasion resistance, a modified version of surface friction, and color enhancement through nanomaterials [ 85 ].

These characteristics have hugely improved the functionality and performance characteristics of textile and fiber materials [ 86 ]. Based upon the numerous advantages, nanotextile technology is increasingly being used in various inter-related fields, including in medical clothes, geotextiles, shock-resistant textiles, and fire-resistant and water-resistant textiles [ 87 ]. These textiles and fibers help overcome severe environmental conditions in special industries where high temperatures, pressure, and other conditions are adjusted for manufacturing purposes. These textiles are now increasingly called smart clothes due to renewed nanotechnological application to traditional methods [ 88 ].

The increasing demand for durable, appealing, and functionally outstanding textile products with a couple of factors of sustainability has allowed science to incorporate nanotechnology in the textile sector. These nano-based materials offer textile properties such as stain-repellent, wrinkle-free textures and fibers’ electrical conductivity alongside guaranteeing comfort and flexibility in clothing [ 82 ]. The characteristics of nanomaterials are also exhibited in the form of connected garments creation that undergo sensations to respond to external stimuli through electrical, colorant, or physiological signals. Thus, a kind of interconnection develops between the fields of photonic, electrical, textile and nanotechnologies [ 89 ]. Their interconnected applications confer the properties of high-scale performance, lasting durability, and connectivity in textile fibers. However, the concerns of nanotoxicity, the chances of the release of nanomaterials during washing, and the overall environmental impact of nanotextiles are important challenges that need to be ascertained and dealt with successfully in the coming years to ensure wide-scale acceptance and the global broad-spectrum application of nanotextiles [ 90 ].

The global market for the textile industry is constantly on the rise; with so many new brands, the competition is rising in regard to pricing, material, product outlook, and market exposure. Under this scenario, nanotechnology has contributed in terms of value addition to textiles by contributing the properties of water repellence, self-cleaning, and protection from radiation and UV light, along with safety against flames and microorganisms [ 82 ]. A whole new market of smart clothes is slowly taking our international markets along with improvements in textile machinery and economic standing. These advances have effectively established the sustainable character of the textile industry and have created grounds to meet the customer’s demand [ 91 ]. Some important examples of smart clothing originating from the nanotextile industry can be seen in products such as bulletproof jackets, fabric coatings, and advanced nanofibers. Fabric coatings and pressure pads can exhibit characteristics of invisibility and entail a silver, nickel, or gold nanoparticle-based material with inherent antimicrobial properties [ 92 ]. Such materials are effectively being utilized and introduced into the medical industry for bandages, dressings, etc. [ 92 ].

Similarly, woven optical fibers are already making progress in the textile and IT industry. With the incorporation of nanomaterials, optical fibers are being utilized for a range of purposes such as light transmission, sensing technologies, deformation, improved formational characteristic detection, and long-range data transmission. These optical fibers with phase-changing material properties can also be utilized for thermostability maintenance in the fiber industry. Thus, these fibers have combined applications in the computer, IT, and textile sectors [ 93 ]. In addition, the nano cellulosic material that is naturally obtained from plants confers properties of stiffness, strength, durability, and large surface area to volume ratios, which is acquired through the large number of surface hydroxyl groups embedded in nanocellulose particles [ 94 ]. Moreover, the characteristics of high resistance, lower weight, cost-effectiveness, and electrical conductivity are some additional benefits which are also linked to these nanocellulosic fibers [ 93 ]. The aforementioned technologies will allow industrialists to manufacture fabrics based on nanomaterials through a variety of chemical, physical, and biological processes. The scope of improvement in the textile properties, cost, and production methods is making the nanotextile industry a strong field of interest for future industrial investments.

2.9. Nanotechnology and Transport and Automobile Industry

The automotive industry is always improving its production. Nanotechnology is one such tool that could impart the automotive industry with a totally new approach to manufacturing. Automobile shaping could be improved greatly without any changes to the raw materials used. The replacement of conventional fabrication procedures with advanced nanomanufacturing is required to achieve the required outcome. Nanotechnology intends to partly renovate the automobile industry by enhancing the technical performance and reducing production costs excessively. However, there is a gap in fully harnessing the potential of nanomaterials in the automotive industry. Industrialists who were previously strict about automotive industrial principles are ready to employ novelties attached to nanotechnology to create successful applications to automobiles in the future [ 95 ]. Nanotechnology could provide assistance in manufacturing methods with an impartment of extended life properties. Cars that have been manufactured with nanotechnology applications have shown lower failure rates and enhanced self-repairing properties. Although the initial investment in the nanoautomated industry is high, the outcomes are enormous.

The concept of sustainable transport could also be applied to the manufacturing of such nano-based technology which is CO 2 free and imparts safe driving and quiet, clean, and wider-screen cars, which, in the future, may be called nanocars. The major interplay of nanotechnology and the automotive industry comes in the manufacturing of car parts, engines, paints, coating materials, suspensions, breaks, lubrication, and exhaust systems [ 32 ]. These properties are largely imparted via carbon nanotubes and carbon black, which renders new functionalities to automobiles. These products were previously in use, but nanoscaling and nanocoating allow for enhanced environmental, thermal, and mechanical stability to be imparted to the new generation of automobiles. In simple terms, automobiles manufactured with principal nanonovelties could result in cars with less wearing risk, better gliding potential, thinner coating lubrication requirements, and long service bodies with weight reductions [ 31 ]. These properties will ultimately reduce costs and will impart more space for improved automobile manufacturing in the future. Similarly, the development of electric cars and cars built on super capacitor technology is increasingly based on nanotechnology. The implications of nanotechnology in the form of rubber fillers, body frames made of light alloys, nanoelectronic components, nanocoatings of the interior and exterior of cars, self-repairing materials against external pressure, nanotextiles for interiors, and nanosensors are some of the nanotechnological-based implications of the automotive industry [ 96 ]. Owing to these properties, nanotechnology ventures are rapidly progressing in the automobile industry. It is expected that, soon, the automobile industry will commercialize nanotechnological perspectives on their branding strategies.

2.10. Nanotechnology, Healthcare, and Medical Industry

The genesis of nanomedicine simply cannot be ignored when we talk about the large fields of biological sciences, biotechnology, and medicine. Nanotechnology is already making its way beyond the imagination in the broader vision of nanobiotechnology. The quality of human life is continuously improved by the successful applications of nanotechnology in medicine, and resultantly, the entire new field of nanomedicine has come to the surface, which has allowed scientists to create upgraded versions of diagnostics, treatment, screening, sequencing, disease prevention, and proactive actions for healthcare [ 97 ]. These practices may also involve drug manufacturing, designing, conjugation, and efficient delivery options with advances in nano-based genomics, tissue engineering, and gene therapy. With this, it could be predicted that soon, nanomedicine will be the foremost research interest for the coming generation of biologists to study the useful impacts and risks that might be associated with them [ 98 ]. As illustrated in Figure 2 , we summarized the applications of nanotechnology in different subfields of the medical industry.

Nanotechnology applications in medical industry. Nanotechnology has a broad range of applications in various diagnostics and treatments using nanorobotics and drug delivery systems.

In various medical procedures, scientists are exploring the potential benefits of nanotechnology. In the field of medical tools, various robotic characters have been applied which have their origins in nano-scale computers, such as diagnostic surfaces, sensor technologies, and sample purification kits [ 99 ]. Similarly, some modifications are being accepted in diagnostics with the development of devices that are capable of working, responding, and modifying within the human body with the sole purpose of early diagnosis and treatment. Regenerative medicine has led to nanomanufacturing applications in addition to cell therapy and tissue engineering [ 100 ]. Similarly, some latest technologies in the form of ‘lab-on-a-chip’, as elaborated upon earlier, are being introduced with large implications in different fields such as nanomedicine, diagnostics, dentistry, and cosmetics industries [ 101 ]. Some updated nanotechnology applications in genomics and proteomics fields have developed molecular insights into antimicrobial diseases. Moreover, medicine, programming, nanoengineering, and biotechnology are being merged to create applications such as surgical nanorobotics, nanobioelectrics, and drug delivery methods [ 102 ]. All of these together help scientists and clinicians to better understand the pathophysiology of diseases and to bring about better treatment solutions in the future.

Specifically, the field of nanocomputers and linked devices help to control activation responses and their rates in mechanical procedures [ 2 ]. Through these mechanical devices, specific actions of medical and dental procedures are executed accurately. Moreover, programmed nanomachines and nanorobots allow medical practitioners to carry out medical procedures precisely at even sub-cellular levels [ 4 ]. In diagnostics fields, the use of such nanodevices is expanding rapidly, which allows predictions to be made about disease etiology and helps to regulate treatment options [ 103 ]. The use of in vitro diagnosis allows increased efficiency in disease apprehension. Meanwhile, in in vivo diagnoses, such devices have been made which carry out the screening of diseased states and respond to any kind of toxicities or carcinogenic or pathological irregularities that the body faces [ 104 ].

Similarly, the field of regenerative medicine is employing nanomaterials in various medical procedures such as cell therapy, tissue engineering, and gene sequencing for the greater outlook of treatment and reparation of cells, tissues, and organs. Nanoassemblies have been recorded in research for applications in powerful tissue regeneration technologies with properties of cell adhesion, migration, and cellular differentiation [ 102 ]. Additionally, nanotechnology is being applied in antimicrobial (antibacterial and antiviral) fields. The microscopic abilities of these pathogens are determined through nano-scale technologies [ 100 ]. Greek medicinal practices have long been using metals to cure pathogenic diseases, but the field of nanotechnology has presented a new method to improve such traditional medical practices; for example, nanosized silver nanomaterials are being used to cure burn wounds owing to the easy penetration of nanomaterials at the cellular level [ 102 , 105 ].

In the field of bioinformatics and computational biology, genomic and proteomic technologies are elucidating molecular insights into disease management [ 106 ]. The scope of targeted and personalized therapies related to pathogenic and pathophysiological diseases have greatly provided spaces for nanotechnological innovative technologies [ 107 , 108 ]. They also incorporate the benefits of cost-effectiveness and time saving [ 109 ]. Similarly, nanosensors and nanomicrobivores are utilized for military purposes such as the detection of airborne chemical agents which could cause serious toxic outcomes otherwise [ 102 ]. Some nanosensors also serve a purpose similar to phagocytes to clear toxic pathogens from the bloodstream without causing septic shock conditions, especially due to the inhalation of prohibited drugs and banned substances [ 100 , 105 , 110 ]. These technologies are also used for dose specifications and to neutralize overdosing incidences [ 110 ] Nano-scale molecules work as anticancer and antiviral nucleoside analogs with or without other adjuvants [ 21 ].

Another application of nanotechnology in the medical industry is in bone regeneration technology. Scientists are working on bone graft technology for bone reformation and muscular re-structuring [ 111 , 112 ]. Principle investigations of biomineralization, collagen mimic coatings, collagen fibers, and artificial muscles and joints are being conducted to revolutionize the field of osteology and bone tissue engineering [ 113 , 114 ]. Similarly, drug delivery technologies are excessively considering nanoscaling options to improve drug delivery stability and pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic profiles at a large scale [ 110 ]. The use of nanorobots is an important step that allows drugs to travel across the circulatory system and deliver drug entities to specifically targeted sites [ 99 , 115 ]. Scientists are even working on nanorobots-based wireless intracellular and intra-nucleolar nano-scale surgeries for multiple malignancies, which otherwise remain incurable [ 102 ]. These nanorobotics can work at such a minute level that they can even cut a single neuronic dendrite without causing harm to complex neuronal networks [ 116 ].

Another important application of nanotechnology in the medical field is oncology. Nanotechnology is providing a good opportunity for researchers to develop such nanoagents, fluorescent materials, molecular diagnostics kits, and specific targeted drugs that may help to diagnose and cure carcinogenesis [ 104 ]. Scientists are trying various protocols of adjoining already-available drugs with nanoparticulate conjugation to enhance drug specificity and targeting in organs [ 104 , 107 , 117 ]. Nanomedicine acts as the carrier of hundreds of specific anticancerous molecules that could be projected at tumor sites; moreover, the tumor imaging and immunotherapy approaches linked with nanomedicine are also a potential field of interest when it comes to cancer treatment management [ 112 , 117 ]. A focus is also being drawn toward lessening the impact of chemotherapeutic drugs by increasing their tumor-targeting efficiency and improving their pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic properties [ 112 ]. Similarly, heat-induced ablation treatment against cancer cells alongside gene therapy protocols is also being coupled with nanorobotics [ 99 , 118 ]. Anticancerous drugs may utilize the Enhanced Permeation and Retention Effect (EPR effect) by applications of nano assemblies such as liposomes, albumin nanospheres, micelles, and gold nanoparticles, which confirms effective treatment strategies against cancer [ 119 ]. Such advances in nanomedicine will bring about a more calculated, outlined, and technically programmed field of nanomedicine through association and cooperation between physicians, clinicians, researchers, and technologies.

2.10.1. Nanoindustry and Dentistry

Nanodentistry is yet another subfield of nanomedicine that involves broad-scale applications of nanotechnology ranging from diagnosis, prevention, cure, prognosis, and treatment options for dental care [ 120 ]. Some important applications in oral nanotechnology include dentition denaturalization, hypersensitivity cure, orthodontic realignment problems, and modernized enameling options for the maintenance of oral health [ 2 , 121 ]. Similarly, mechanical dentifrobots work to sensitize nerve impulse traffic at the core of a tooth in real-time calculation and hence could regulate tooth tissue penetration and maintenance for normal functioning [ 122 ]. The functioning is coupled with programmed nanocomputers to execute an action from external stimuli via connection with localized internal nerve stimuli. Similarly, there are other broad-range applications of nanotechnology in tooth repair, hypersensitivity treatment, tooth repositioning, and denaturalization technologies [ 4 , 118 , 120 , 121 ]. Some of the applications of nanotechnology in the field of dentistry are elaborated upon in Figure 3 .

Nanotechnology applications in field of dentistry. Nanotechnology can be largely used in dentistry to repair and treat dental issues.

2.10.2. Nanotechnology and Cosmetics Industry

The cosmetics industry, as part of the greater healthcare industry, is continuously evolving. Nanotechnology-based renovations are progressively incorporated into cosmetics industries as well. Products are designed with novel formulations, therapeutic benefits, and aesthetic output [ 123 ]. The nanocosmetics industry employs the usage of lipid nanocarrier systems, polymeric or metallic nanoparticles, nanocapsules, nanosponges, nanoemulsions, nanogels, liposomes, aquasomes, niosomes, dendrimers, and fullerenes, etc., among other such nanoparticles [ 101 ]. These nanomaterials bring about specific characteristics such as drug delivery, enhanced absorption, improved esthetic value, and enhanced shelf life. The benefits of nanotechnology are greatly captured in the improvement of skin, hair, nail, lip, and dental care products, and those associated with hygienic concerns. Changes to the skin barrier have been largely curtailed owing to the function of the nano scale of materials. The nanosize of active ingredients allows them to easily permeate skin barriers and generate the required dermal effect [ 124 ].

More profoundly, nanomaterials’ application is encouraged in the production of sun-protective cosmetics products such as sunblock lotions and creams. The main ingredient used is the rational combination of cinnamates (derived from carnauba wax) and titanium dioxide nanosuspensions which provide sun-protective effects in cosmetics products [ 125 ]. Similarly, nanoparticle suspensions are being applied in nanostructured lipid carriers (NLCs) for dermal and pharmaceutical applications [ 126 ]. They exhibit the properties of controlled drug-carrying and realizing properties, along with direct drug targeting, occlusion, and increased penetration and absorption to the skin surface. Moreover, these carrier nanoemulsions exhibit excellent tolerability to intense environmental and body conditions [ 127 ]. Moreover, these lipid nanocarriers have been researched and declared safe for potential cosmetic and pharmaceutical applications. However, more research is still required to assess the risk/benefit ratio of their excessive application [ 128 ].

2.11. Nanotechnology Industries and Environment

The environment, society, and technology are becoming excessively linked under a common slogan of sustainable development. Nanotechnology plays a key role in the 21st century to modify the technical and experimental outlook of various industries. Environmental applications cannot stand still against revolutionary applications of nanotechnology. Since the environment has much to do with the physical and chemical world around a living being, the nano scale of products greatly changes and affects environmental sustainability [ 129 ]. The subsequent introduction of nanomaterials in chemistry, physics, biotechnology, computer science, and space, food, and chemical industries, in general, directly impacts environmental sciences.

With regard to environmental applications, the remarkable research and applications of nanotechnology are increasing in the processing of raw materials, product manufacturing, contaminate treatment, soil and wastewater treatment, energy storage, and hazardous waste management [ 130 ]. In developed nations, it is now widely suggested that nanotechnology could play an effective role in tackling environmental issues. In fact, the application of nanotechnology could be implemented for water and cell cleaning technologies, drinking safety measures, and the detoxification of contaminants and pollutants from the environment such as heavy metals, organochlorine pesticides, and solvents, etc., which may involve reprocessing although nanofiltration. Moreover, the efficiency and durability of materials can be increased with mechanical stress and weathering phenomena. Similarly, the use of nanocage-based emulsions is being used for optical imaging techniques [ 131 ].

In short, the literature provides immense relevance to how nanotechnology is proving itself through groundbreaking innovative technologies in environmental sciences. The focus, for now, is kept on remediation technologies with prime attention on water treatment, since water scarcity is being faced worldwide and is becoming critical with time. There is a need for the scientific community to actively conduct research on comprehending the properties of nanomaterials for their high surface area, related chemical properties, high mobility, and unique mechanical and magnetic properties which could be used for to achieve a sustainable environment [ 132 ].

2.12. Nanotechnology—Oil and Gas Industry

The oil and gas industry makes up a big part of the fossil industry, which is slowly depleting with the rising consumption. Although nanotechnology has been successfully applied to the fields of construction, medicine, and computer science, its application in the oil and gas industry is still limited, especially in exploration and production technologies [ 133 ]. The major issue in this industry is to improve oil recovery and the further exploitation of alternative energy sources. This is because the cost of oil production and further purification is immense compared to crude oil prices. Nanotechnologists believe that they could overcome the technological barriers to developing such nanomaterials that would help in curtailing these problems.

Governments are putting millions of dollars into the exploration, drilling, production, refining, wastewater treatment, and transport of crude oil and gas. Nanotechnology can provide assistance in the precise measurement of reservoir conditions. Similarly, nanofluids have been proven to exhibit better performance in oil production industries. Nanocatalyses enhance the separation processing of oil, water, and gases, thus bringing an efficient impurity removal process to the oil and gas industry. Nanofabrication and nanomembrane technologies are excessively being utilized for the separation and purification of fossil materials [ 134 ]. Finally, functional and modified nanomaterials can produce smart, cost-effective, and durable equipment for the processing and manufacturing of oil and gas. In short, there is immense ground for the improvement of the fossil fuel industry if nanotechnology could be correctly directed in this industry [ 135 ].

2.13. Nanotechnology and Renewable Energy (Solar) Industry

Renewable energy sources are the solutions to many environmental problems in today’s world. This makes the renewable energy industry a major part of the environmental industry. Subsequently, nanotechnology needs to be considered in the energy affairs of the world. Nanotechnologies are increasingly applied in solar, hydrogen, biomass, geothermal, and tidal wave energy production. Although, scientists are convinced that much more needs to be discovered before enhancing the benefits of coupled nanotechnology and renewable energy [ 136 ].

Nanotechnology has procured its application way down the road of renewable energy sources. Solar collectors have been specifically given much importance since their usage is encouraged throughout the world, and with events of intense solar radiation, the production and dependence of solar energy will be helpful for fulfilling future energy needs. Research data are available regarding the theoretical, numerical, and experimental approaches adopted for upgrading solar collectors with the employment of nanotechnologies [ 137 ].

These applications include the nanoengineering of flat solar plates, direct absorption plates, parabolic troughs, and wavy plates and heat pipes. In most of these instruments and solar collection devices, the use of nanofluids is becoming common and plays a crucial role in increasing the working efficiency of these devices. A gap, however, exists concerning the usage of nanomaterials in the useful manufacturing design of solar panels and their associated possible efficiencies which could be brought to the solar panel industry. Moreover, work needs to be done regarding the cost-effectiveness and efficiency analyses of traditional and nanotechnology-based solar devices so that appropriate measures could be adopted for the future generation of nanosolar collectors [ 138 ].

2.14. Nanotechnology and Wood Industry

The wood industry is one of the main economic drivers in various countries where forest growth is immense and heavy industrial setups rely on manufacturing and selling wood-based products [ 139 ]. However, the rising environmental concerns against deforestation are a major cause for researchers to think about a method for the sustainable usage of wood products. Hence, nanotechnology has set its foot in the wood industry in various applications such as the production of biodegradable materials in the paper and pulp industry, timber and furniture industry, wood preservatives, wood composites, and applications in lignocellulosic-based materials [ 140 ]. Resultantly, new products are introduced into the market with enhanced performance (stronger yet lighter products), increased economic potential, and reduced environmental impact.

One method of nano-based application in the wood industry is the derivation of nanomaterials directly from the forest, which is now called nanocellulose material, known broadly for its sustainable characteristics [ 141 ]. This factor has pushed the wood industry to convert cellulosic material to nanocellulose with increased strength, low weight, and increased electromagnetic response along with a larger surface area [ 142 ]. These characteristics are then further used as reinforcing agents in different subcategories of wood-based industries, including substrate, stabilizer, electronics, batteries, sensor technologies, food, medicine, and cosmetics industries [ 143 ]. Moreover, functional characteristics such as the durability, UV absorption, fire resistance, and decreased water absorption of wood-based biodegradable products are also being improved with the application of nanomaterials such as nanozinc oxide or nanotitanium oxide [ 144 ]. Similarly, wood biodegradable properties are reduced through the application of nanoencapsulated preservatives to improve the impregnation of wood with the increasing penetration of applied chemicals and a reduced leaching effect.

Cellulosic nanomaterials exhibit nanofibrillar structures which can be made multifunctional for application in construction, furniture, food, pharmaceuticals, and other wood-based industries [ 145 ]. Research is emerging in which promising results are predicted in different industries in which nanofibers, nanofillers, nanoemulsions, nanocomposites, and nano-scaled chemical materials are used to increase the potential advantages of manufactured wood products [ 146 ]. The outstanding properties of nanocellulusice materials have largely curtailed the environmental concerns in the wood industry in the form of their potential renewable characteristics, self-assembling properties, and well-defined architecture. However, there are a few challenges related to such industries, such as cost/benefit analyses, a lack of compatibility and acceptability from the public owing to a lack of proper commercialization, and a persistent knowledge gap in some places [ 145 ]. Therefore, more effort is required to increase the applications and acceptability of nano-based wood products in the market worldwide.

2.15. Nanotechnology and Chemical Industries

Nanotechnology can be easily applied to various chemical compositions such as polymeric substances; this application can bring about structural and functional changes in those chemical materials and can address various industrial applications including medicine, physics, electronics, chemical, and material industries, among others [ 76 , 132 , 138 ]. One such industrial application is in electricity production, in which different nanomaterials driven from silver, golden, and organic sources could be utilized to make the overall production process cheaper and effective [ 147 ]. Another effective application is in the coatings and textile industry, which has already been discussed briefly. In these industries, enzymatic catalysis in combination with nanotechnology accelerates reaction times, saving money and bringing about high-quality final products. Similarly, the water cleaning industry can utilize the benefits of nanomaterials in the form of silver and magnetic nanoparticles to create strong forces of attraction that easily separate heavy material from untreated water [ 148 ]. Similarly, there is a wide range of chemicals that can be potentially upgraded, although the nano scale for application in biomedical industries is discussed under the heading of nanotechnology and medicine.

Another major application of nanotechnology in the chemical industry includes the surfactant industry, which is used for cleaning paper, inks, agrochemicals, drugs, pharmaceuticals, and some food products [ 149 ]. The traditional surfactant application was of great environmental and health concern, but with the newer and improved manufacturing and nanoscaling of surfactants, environmentally friendly applications have been made possible. These newer types may include biosurfactants obtained via the process of fermentation and bio-based surfactants produced through organic manufacturing. More research is required to establish the risks and side effects of these nanochemical agents [ 3 ].

3. Closing Remarks

Nanotechnology, within a short period, has taken over all disciplinary fields of science, whether it is physics, biology, or chemistry. Now, it is predicted to enormously impact manufacturing technology owing to the evidential and proven benefits of micro scaling. Every field of industry, such as computing, information technology, engineering, medicine, agriculture, and food, among others, is now originating an entire new field in association with nanotechnology. These industries are widely known as nanocomputer, nanoengineering, nanoinformatics, nanobiotechnology, nanomedicine, nanoagriculture, and nanofood industries. The most brilliant discoveries are being made in nanomedicine, while the most cost-effective and vibrant technologies are being introduced in materials and mechanical sciences.

The very purpose of nanotechnology, in layman’s terms, is to ease out the manufacturing process and improve the quality of end products and processes. In this regard, it is easy and predictable that it is not difficult for nanotechnology to slowly take out most of the manufacturing process for industrial improvement. With every coming year, more high-tech and more effective-looking nanotechnologies are being introduced. This is smoothing out the basis of a whole new era of nanomindustries. However, the constructive need is to expand the research basis of nanoapplications to entail the rigorous possible pros of this technology and simultaneously figure out a method to deal with the cons of the said technology.

The miniaturization of computer devices has continued for many years and is now being processed at the nanometer scale. However, a gap remains to explore further options for the nanoscaling of computers and complex electronic devices, including computer processors. Moreover, there is an immense need to enable the controlled production and usage of such nanotechnologies in the real world, because if not, they could threaten the world of technology. Scientists should keep on working on producing nanoelectronic devices with more power and energy efficiency. This is important in order to extract the maximum benefits from the hands of nanotechnology and computer sciences [ 5 ].

Under the influence of nanotechnology, food bioprocessing is showing improvement, as proven by several scientific types of research and industrial applications in food chain and agricultural fields. Moreover, the aspect of sustainability is being introduced to convert the environment, food chains, processing industries, and production methods to save some resources for future generations. The usage of precision farming technologies based upon nanoengineering, modern nano-scale fertilizers, and pesticides are of great importance in this regard. Moreover, a combined nanotechnological aspect is also being successfully applied to the food industry, affecting every dimension of packing, sensing, storage, manufacturing, and antimicrobial applications. It is pertinent to say that although the applications of nanotechnology in the food, agriculture, winemaking, poultry, and associated packaging industries are immense, the need is to accurately conduct the risk assessment and potential toxicity of nanomaterials to avoid any damage to the commercial food chains and animal husbandry practices [ 63 ].

The exposure of the nano-based building industry is immense for civil and mechanical engineers; now, we need to use these technologies to actually bring about changes in those countries in which the population is immense, construction material is depleting, and environmental sustainability problems are hovering upon the state. By carefully assessing the sustainability potential of these nanomaterials, their environmental, hazardous, and health risks could be controlled, and they could likely be removed from the construction and automobile industry all over the world with sincere scientific and technical rigor [ 150 ]. It is expected that soon, the construction and automobile industry will commercialize the nanotechnological perspectives alongside sustainability features in their branding strategies. These nano-scale materials could allow the lifecycle management of automotive and construction industries with the provision of sustainable, safe, comfortable, cost-effective, and more eco-friendly automobiles [ 32 ]. The need is to explore the unacknowledged and untapped potential of nanotechnology applications in these industry industries.

Similarly, nanotechnology-based applications in consumer products such as textile and esthetics industries are immense and impressive. Professional development involves the application of nanotechnology-based UV-protective coatings in clothes which are of utmost need with climatic changes [ 73 ]. The application of nanotechnology overcomes the limitations of conventional production methods and makes the process more suitable and green-technology-based. These properties have allowed the textile companies to effectively apply nanotechnology for the manufacture of better products [ 90 ]. With greater consumer acceptability and market demand, millions are spent in the cosmetic industry to enable the further usage of nanotechnology. Researchers are hopeful that nanotechnology would be used to further upgrade the cosmetics industry in the near future [ 123 ].

Furthermore, the breakthrough applications of nanomedicine are not hidden from the scientific community. If nanomedicine is accepted worldwide in the coming years, then the hope is that the domain of diagnosis and treatment will become more customized, personalized, and genetically targeted for individual patients. Treatment options will ultimately become excessive in number and more successful in accomplishment. However, these assumptions will stay a dream if the research remains limited to scientific understanding.

The real outcome will be the application of this research into the experimental domain and clinical practices to make them more productive and beneficial for the medical industry. For this cause, a combined effort of technical ability, professional skills, research, experimentation, and the cooperation of clinicians, physicians, researchers, and technology is imperative. However, despite all functional beneficial characteristics, work needs to be done and more exploration is required to learn more about nanotechnology and its potential in different industries, especially nanomedicine, and to take into account and curtail the risks and harms attached to the said domain of science.

Additionally, climatic conditions, as mentioned before, along with fossil fuel depletion, have pushed scientists to realize a low-energy-consuming and more productive technological renovation in the form of nanoengineered materials [ 48 ]. Now, they are employing nanomaterials to save energy and harvest the maximum remaining natural resources. There is immense ground for the improvement of the fossil fuel industry if nanotechnology could be correctly directed in this industry [ 135 ]. The beneficial applications within the solar industry, gas and oil industry, and conversion fields require comparative cost-effectiveness and efficiency analyses of traditional and nano-based technologies so that appropriate measures could be adopted for the future generation of nano-based products in said industries [ 138 ].

As every new technology is used in industries, linked social, ethical, environmental, and human safety issues arise to halt the pace of progress. These issues need to be addressed and analyzed along with improving nanotechnology so that this technology easily incorporates into different industries without creating social, moral, and ethical concerns. Wide-scale collaboration is needed among technologists, engineers, biologists, and industrials for a prospective future associated with the wide-scale application of nanotechnology in diversified fields.

4. Conclusions

Highly cost-effective and vibrant nanotechnologies are being introduced in materials and mechanical sciences. A comprehensive overview of such technologies has been covered in this study. This review will help researchers and professionals from different fields to delve deeper into the applications of nanotechnology in their particular areas of interest. Indeed, the applications of nanotechnology are immense, yet the risks attached to unlimited applications remain unclear and unpronounced. Thus, more work needs to be linked and carefully ascertained so that further solutions can be determined in the realm of nanotoxicology. Moreover, it is recommended that researchers, technicians, and industrialists should cooperate at the field and educational level to explore options and usefully exploit nanotechnology in field experiments. Additionally, more developments should be made and carefully assessed at the nano scale for a future world, so that we are aware of this massive technology. The magnificent applications of nanotechnology in the industrial world makes one think that soon, the offerings of nanotechnology will be incorporated into every possible industry. However, there is a need to take precautionary measures to be aware of and educate ourselves about the environmental and pollution concerns alongside health-related harms to living things that may arise due to the deviant use of nanotechnology. This is important because the aspect of sustainability is being increasingly considered throughout the world. So, by coupling the aspect of sustainability with nanotechnology, a prosperous future of nanotechnology can be guaranteed.

Funding Statement

K.M.’s work is supported by United Arab Emirates University-UPAR-Grant#G3458, SURE plus Grant#3908 and SDG research programme grant#4065.

Author Contributions

Conceptualization, Y.W. methodology, S.M. validation, S.M., K.M. and Y.W. formal analysis, S.M., K.M. and Y.W. investigation, S.M., K.M. and Y.W. resources, K.M. and Y.W. data curation, S.M., K.M. and Y.W. writing—original draft preparation, S.M. writing—review and editing, S.M., K.M. and Y.W. supervision, Y.W. project administration, K.M. and Y.W. funding acquisition, Y.W. and K.M. All authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript.

Institutional Review Board Statement

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The authors declare no conflict of interest.

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New cataclysmic variable discovered by astronomers

by Tomasz Nowakowski , Phys.org

By analyzing the data from ESA's XMM-Newton and Gaia satellites, astronomers from the Leibniz Institute for Astrophysics Potsdam (AIP) in Germany and elsewhere have detected a new magnetic cataclysmic variable system, most likely of the polar type. The finding was reported in a research paper published March 21 on the pre-print server arXiv .

CVs are binary star systems comprising a white dwarf and a normal star companion. They irregularly increase in brightness by a large factor, then drop back down to a quiescent state. Polars are a subclass of cataclysmic variables distinguished from other CVs by the presence of a very strong magnetic field in their white dwarfs .

A team of astronomers led by AIP's Samet Ok, has identified a new cataclysmic variable, which received designation XMM J152737.4-205305.9 (or XMM 152737 for short), by correlating the CV candidate catalog released by Gaia Data Release 3 (DR3) with the XMM-Newton archive.

"In order to detect and identify new magnetic cataclysmic variables, we correlated the source coordinates in this catalog [DR3] within the XMM-Newton's data archive," the researchers wrote in the paper.

According to the study, XMM 152737 has a singular period that corresponds with the synchronous rotation characteristic observed in polars. The system displays harmonics in its power spectrum and has a relatively short orbital period, which is usually observed in known polars.

The source was found to showcase two distinct dips that exhibit a recurring pattern with a precise period of approximately 112.4 minutes. The scientists explained that such dips may be caused by an eclipse of the white dwarf by the donor star or an obscuration of the accretion region on the white dwarf by the accretion stream.

The observations show that XMM 152737 has prominent emission lines corresponding to hydrogen and helium. This finding strongly suggests that the object is a polar-type cataclysmic variable.

The study found that XMM 152737 is located some 3,770 light years away from the Earth and its X-ray luminosity is estimated to be between 30 and 60 nonillion erg/s. Assuming that the system is eclipsing, the authors of the paper calculated that the white dwarf and the secondary star have masses of 0.8 and 0.14 solar masses, respectively.

Summing up the results, the researchers noted that further observations of XMM 152737 are required in order to determine the origin of the observed dips in this system. This could shed more light on the properties of this cataclysmic variable and confirm its polar classification.

Journal information: arXiv

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How Spammers, Scammers and Creators Leverage AI-Generated Images on Facebook for Audience Growth

• Renee DiResta ,
• Josh A. Goldstein

Text-to-image models such as DALL-E and Midjourney can produce impressive, at times even photorealistic, images. Past research by the Stanford Internet Observatory  has covered the very serious implications for child safety and nonconsensual intimate imagery. Researchers and policymakers have  expressed fears that they could be misused to inject false information into political discourse. 

In a new preprint paper , we discuss something else entirely: spam and scams. Behold, Shrimp Jesus.  

The magnificent surrealism of Shrimp Jesus—or, relatedly, Crab Jesus, Watermelon Jesus, Fanta Jesus, and Spaghetti Jesus—is captivating. What  is that? Why does that exist? You perhaps feel motivated to share it with your friends, so that they can share in your WTF moment. (We encourage you to share this post, of course.) 

But that capacity to produce captivating, novel, and immersive imagery, cheaply and instantly, and to immediately double down on wins that generate significant engagement, is also what makes the technology appealing to spammers and scammers. These innovative actors, seemingly motivated primarily by profit or clout (not ideology) have been using AI-generated images to gain viral traction on Facebook since AI image-generation tools became readily available. And Facebook, it appears, is actively recommending their content by pushing it into users’ Feeds. In 2016, the “fake news” stories  produced by Macedonian teenagers and designed for Facebook’s algorithms  pulled in tens of millions of page views; AI artisans tempt Facebook’s Feed ranking algorithms today. 

To understand how the technology is being used for page growth and incorporated into spam and scams, we examined more than 100 Facebook Pages that each posted 50+ AI-generated images. Some form coordinated clusters, which post large numbers of AI-generated images. Apparent motivations include driving people to off-platform websites, selling products, and building bigger followings. We focused on the spammers, which we defined as accounts that were pushing their audiences out to a content farm, and scammers, who were attempting either to sell products that do not appear to exist, had stolen the pages they operated, or were attempting to manipulate their audiences within the comments. These images in total account for hundreds of millions of interactions and are shown through Facebook’s Feed to some Facebook users who do not follow the Pages. While Shrimp Jesus is (perhaps) obviously an artistic fantasy—created by a page that previously shared clickbait links to a content farm—comments on many of the AI-generated images of more mundane things, like housewares, homes, or artwork purportedly created by children, suggest many users are unaware of the synthetic origin, although a subset of users post comments or infographics attempting to warn other users. Our research highlights routine but non-transparent uses of AI-generated images on Facebook and the need for better provenance and transparency methods.

In the words of the copypasta captions: thanks to everyone who appreciates this. 

Key takeaways:

• We studied 120 Facebook Pages that posted at least 50 AI-generated images each, classifying the Pages into spam, scam, and ‘other creator’ categories. Some were coordinated clusters of Pages run by the same administrators. 
• These images collectively received hundreds of millions of engagements. A post including an AI-generated image was one of the 20 most viewed pieces of content on Facebook in Q3 2023 (with 40 million views). 
• Spam Pages used clickbait tactics and attempted to direct users to off-platform content farms and low-quality domains. Scam Pages attempted to sell products that do not exist or to get users to divulge personal details; some were posting the AI-generated images on stolen Pages.
• AI-generated images are shown on the Facebook Feed to users who do not follow the Pages. We suspect that AI-generated images appear on users’ Feeds because the Facebook Feed ranking algorithm promotes content that is likely to generate engagement. Comments on the AI-generated images suggest many users are unaware of the synthetic origin of the images, though a subset of users post comments or infographics alerting others. The fact that viewers are deceived by these images highlights the importance of labeling and additional transparency measures moving forward.
• Some of the Facebook Pages we studied also used known deceptive practices, such as account theft or takeover, and exhibited suspicious follower growth.
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New report: "scaling trust on the web", addressing child exploitation on federated social media.