It might also depend on what you are willing to accept as nanomaterials. The carriers of information in magetic hard disks are nanoscale grains, and although quite a few of them make up for a single bit, the bit size is still in the nanoscale just as is the tihckness of the magnetic film.

Similarly, one may argue the read sensors to be nanoscale materials, be it with GMR heads or TMR heads.

The 2 largest materials in this area are carbon black (car tires) and fumed silica (rheology modifier for everything from toothpaste to polymers). Both are made in millions of tons/year. You could then have discussion about catalytic converters for automobiles.

two-dimensional graphene, after its isolation in 2004, which brings Nobel prize for the scholars who discovered and studied it, is one of the most applied and studied nanomaterials in the past decade. It applied in various areas such as sensors, supercapacitors, batteries, catalyzers and so forth, and just in 2018, more than 16,000 papers published with the keywork "graphene"; so I believe 2D graphene is definitely one of nanomaterials with a wide range of applications.

Ramin Boroujerdi

So, list some applications for graphene where tonnes of material have been used? IMHO, graphene is a solution awaiting the right problem...

Dear Alan,

I agree with you, I looked at the question more from a chemical point of view and not as material or industrial view; I was describing a nanomaterials with a range of applications (mostly in the lab) and not one which we use tonnes of it in an industry.

Regards,

Ramin

Alan F Rawle , I agree

It might also depend on what you are willing to accept as nanomaterials. The carriers of information in magetic hard disks are nanoscale grains, and although quite a few of them make up for a single bit, the bit size is still in the nanoscale just as is the tihckness of the magnetic film.

Similarly, one may argue the read sensors to be nanoscale materials, be it with GMR heads or TMR heads.

Kai Fauth

Agreed. It could be argued that all semiconductor technology is nano by definition. Hence my other example of catalytic converters where the 3-way catalyst materials are nano in size (especially by back-calculation of the surface area) on the alumina support.