Nanotechnology has uses in chemical engineering, and nanotechnology has some use for chemical engineers amongst other disciplines. But it's more buzzword than full-blown industry at this point. Does that indicate potential for growth? Absolutely, but that growth could be slow or otherwise limited. 20 years ago, biotechnology was supposed to be the next big thing. Ten years ago it was the "hydrogen economy". Neither was really "the next big thing", nor is it now, though both fields both employed and continue to employ some chemical engineers.
My alma mater has a "nanotechnology engineering" program, and I know that these students have had difficulty finding co-op work term employment ever since the program was established. A Bachelors' level program is too short to be truly interdisciplinary. I can see a chem eng bachelors' grad with a masters or PhD in a nano-related field having much better prospects for the limited number of specialist positions available in the field. I suspect that creating this program was a "build it and they will come" kind of thing.
