Introduction to

Nanotechnology For Students

HEMANT R. AGNIHOTRI
LECTURER IN PHYSICS
WALCHAND COLLEGE OF
ENGINEERING, SANGLI. 416415.
 WHAT IS NANOTECHNOLOGY?

The next “Big Thing” is very, very, very !

small

“Nanotechnology is an enabling
technology that will change the
nature of almost every human-made
object in the next century.” -National
Science and Technology Council -2000
 Nanotechnology is the
manipulation of matter
at the nanometer*
scale to create novel
structures, devices and
systems.

Structures Devices Systems

(e.g.materials) (e.g. sensors) (e.g. NEMS)
 Nano Technology

Mechanical Engineering is an engineering

discipline that involves the application of
principles of physics for analysis, design,
manufacturing, and maintenance of
mechanical systems
Mechanical engineers are also expected to
understand and be able to apply basic
concepts from chemistry, chemical
engineering, electrical engineering, civil
engineering, and physics
• Mechanical engineering is one of the oldest and
broadest engineering disciplines.Mechanical engineers
design and build engines and power plants......structures
and vehicles of all sizes...
• It requires a solid understanding of core concepts
including mechanics, kinematics, thermodynamics, fluid
mechanics, and energy.
• Mechanical engineers use the core principles as well as
other knowledge in the field to design and analyze motor
vehicles, aircraft, heating and cooling systems,
watercraft, manufacturing plants, industrial equipment
and machinery, robotics, medical devices and more.
 What is nano?
• Nanotechnology is the application of scientific and
engineering principles to make and utilize very small
things.
• How small? - Not as small as atoms or molecules, but
much smaller than anything you can see.
• Why small?- many materials exhibit surprising and useful
properties when their size is reduced far enough
• Researchers who try to understand the fundamentals of
these size-dependent properties call their work
nanoscience, while those focusing on how to effectively
use the properties call their work nanoengineering.
• More specifically nanotechnology deals with structures of
less than 100 nanometer (nm). One nm is 1 billionth of a
meter.
 What is the nanoscale?

• Practically speaking, the nanoscale ranges

from about 1 nanometer (nm) to 100
nanometers.
• More specifically nanotechnology deals
with structures of less than 100 nanometer
(nm).
 What is nanotechnology?
• Nanotechnology is the engineering of functional
systems at the molecular scale
• In 1959, the great physicist Richard Feynmana brilliant
Caltech physicist who later won a Nobel Prize ,
suggested that it should be possible to build machines
small enough to manufacture objects with atomic
precision.
• "There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom," –Lecture on
December 29, 1959 was the foreshadowing of
nanotechnology.
• Foresight Nanotech Institute Founder K. Eric Drexler
introduced the term "nanotechnology" to the world in
1986.
 What is a nanometer?

• A nanometer is one billionth of a meter.

• 1nm = 10 -9 m
• One nm is 1 billionth of a meter
 What is the nanoscale?

• Practically speaking, the nanoscale ranges

from about 1 nanometer (nm) to 100
nanometers.
• More specifically nanotechnology deals
with structures of less than 100 nanometer
(nm).
 What are nanomaterials?
• Nanoparticles are bits of a material in
which all three dimensions of the particle
are within the nanoscale.
• Nanotubes have a diameter that’s
nanosize, but can be several hundred
nanometers (nm) long or even longer.
Nanofilms or nanoplates have a thickness
that’s nanosize, but their other two
dimensions can be quite large.
What is a nanostructured material?
• A nanostructured material has internal
structure that is within the 1 to100
nanometer (nm) range, while the pieces of
material themselves are larger than 100
nm.
 HOW SMALL

•Nanobatteries are
200 nm in diameter

2 billion could fit on

the surface of a nickel

•
 Nanotechnology …
• is already making today’s products:
– Lighter
– Stronger
– Faster
– Smaller
– More Durable
 Advantages of nanotechnology

• Dr. Won-Jong Kim, mechanical engineer and assistant professor at

Texas A&M University, developed a device that can be used in
nanotechnology applications
• Devices such as the one created by Dr. Won-Jong Kim could
have a positive impact in areas such as telesurgery. Think of
telesurgery as surgery performed at distance. Distance can
mean miles away from the patient. How this could be?
• In telesurgery a medical surgeon could be miles away from the
patient and by using nanotechnological devises he could
precisely position the nanorobot in the position needed to
perform the surgery.
• it eliminates mechanical contact and friction and also
improves accuracy, resolution, decreases manufacturing costs
and increases reliability.
• Today, Governments and businesses are
investing billions of dollars in
nanotechnology R&D,
• For other materials such as crystalline solids, as the size
of their structural components decreases, there is much
greater interface area within the material; this can greatly
affect both mechanical and electrical properties.
• For example, most metals are made up of small
crystalline grains; the boundaries between the grain slow
down or arrest the propagation of defects when the
material is stressed, thus giving it strength. If these grains
can be made very small, or even nanoscale in size, the
interface area within the material greatly increases, which
enhances its strength.
• For example, nanocrystalline nickel is as strong as
hardened steel. Understanding surfaces and interfaces is
a key challenge for those working on nanomaterials, and
one where new imaging and analysis instruments are
vital.
• In tandem with surface-area effects,
quantum effects can begin to dominate the
properties of matter as size is reduced to
the nanoscale. These can affect the
optical, electrical and magnetic behaviour
of materials, particularly as the structure or
particle size approaches the smaller end
of the nanoscale. Materials that exploit
these effects include quantum dots, and
quantum well lasers for optoelectronics.
• This led in turn to the 1991 discovery of a
related molecular shape known as the
"carbon nanotube"; these nanotubes are
about 100 times stronger than steel but
just a sixth of the weight, and they have
unusual heat and conductivity
characteristics that guarantee they will be
important to high technology in the coming
years.
• new nanoscale powers. It is already being
incorporated in consumer products: some
lines of sunscreens and cosmetics, some
stain- and water-repellent clothing, some
new paints, a few kinds of anti-reflective
and anti-fogging glass, and some tennis
equipment.
Nano shirt, slacks, tie, tennis racket, odor/ bacteria eliminating socks, nano
car wax, and 2004 Chevy Impala with nano enhanced side panels.
 Applications
• Nanomaterials are used to add strength to
composite materials used to make lightweight
tennis rackets, baseball bats, and bicycles.
• Nanostructured catalysts are used to make
chemical manufacturing processes more
efficient, saving energy and reducing the waste
products.
• Opticians apply nanocoatings to eyeglasses to
make them easier to keep clean and harder to
scratch. Nanomaterials are applied as coatings
on fabrics to make clothing stain resistant and
easy to care for.
 Applications

• Several companies make nanostructured products using

space-saving insulators that are useful when size and
weight is at a premium—for example, when insulating
long pipelines in remote places, or trying to reduce
heating losses in a leaky old house.
• Nanoceramics are used in some dental implants, or to
fill holes in bones after removing a bone tumor, because
their mechanical and chemical properties can be tuned
to match those of the surrounding tissue.
• Almost all electronic devices manufactured in the last
decade use some nanomaterials.
• Nanotechnology is used much more extensively to build
new transistor structures and interconnects for the
fastest, most advanced computing chips, introduced in
2007 and 2008.
 Applications
• Some exciting new nanotechnology-based
medicines are now in clinical trials.
• Some use nanoparticles to deliver toxic
drugs directly to tumors, while minimizing
the amount of drug damages healthy
tissue.
• Others are used to make medical imaging
tools, like MRIs and CAT scans, work
better and more safely.
 Applications
• Nanotechnology is enabling scientists to find ways to
make our home, cars, and businesses more energy
efficient through new fuel cells, batteries, and solar
panels. They are also finding ways to purify drinking
water and to detect and clean up environmental waste
and damage.
• Nanosensors in packaging may soon be able to detect
food borne pathogens.
• New nanomaterials will be stronger, lighter and more
durable than the materials we use today in buildings,
bridges, automobiles, and more.
• Scientists have experimented with nanomaterials that
bend light and may one day be able to create an
“invisibility cloak.”
• A Carbon Nanotube Molecular Bearing Assembly

The diamondoid crimp

junction shown at left is a
single covalent
nanostructure that fixes two
nanotubes at right angles.
Low-friction Carbon Nanotube Bearing Assembly

The high tensile strengths and

stiffness of carbon nanotubes
have made them important as
building materials in many
current nanoscience
applications.
In the design at left, the cut-
away section is a single
covalent structure, around
which a low-friction diamondoid
bearing is kept from finding a
highly stable minimum energy
position
• What is the National Nanotechnology
Initiative(NNI)?
• The National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) is
one of the largest federal interagency projects
promoting a future in which the ability to
understand and control matter at the nanoscale
leads to a revolution in technology and industry
that benefits society.
• In the United States, the Federal funding
for nanotechnology has increased from
approximately $464 million in 2001 to
nearly $1.5 billion for the 2009 fiscal year.
Private industry is investing at least as
much as the government, according to
estimates.
 Products Anticipated
• 2004-7 burn and wound dressings, water filtration devices,
paints, cosmetics, coatings, lubricants, textiles, memory/storage
devices
• 2008-10 – medical diagnostics, displays, sensors, drug delivery,
composite materials, solid state lighting, bio-materials, nano arrays,
more powerful computers, protective armor, chem-bio suits, and
chem-bio sensors
• 2011-15 -- nanobiomaterials, microprocessors, new catalysts,
portable energy cells, solar cells, tissue/organ regeneration, smart
implants
• 2016 and beyond – molecular circuitry, quantum computing,
new materials, fast chemical analyses
 Carbon Nanotube Composites
• Nano Ridge Materials
has developed a
carbon nanotube
strengthened
composite that is 70% • This very strong
stronger than metal
and 40% the weight.
composite has
potential for aircraft
replacement parts.
 Carbon Nanotubes

• A single-walled
carbon nanotube
(SWNT) is unique
among solid state • Structurally, carbon
materials in that nanotubes are 100 times
every atom is on stronger than steel and
can conduct electricity
the surface.
better than copper.
Economic impact of nanotechnology
Market Size Predictions
(within six years)
$340B/yr Materials
$300B/yr Electronics
$180B/yr Pharmaceuticals
$100B/yr Chemical manufacture
$ 70B/yr Aerospace
$ 20B/yr Tools
$ 30B/yr Improved healthcare
$ 45B/yr Sustainability
$1 Trillion, growing to
$2.6 Trillion by 2014
*Estimates by industry groups, source: NSF and
LUX
Getting Kids into Nano!
 Nano Technician Training
• OSU- Okmulgee has developed a Nano Instrumentation
program that is included as an additional certification to
their Electrical Engineering Associates program.
• Tulsa Community College is offering electronic courses
for Nanotechnology and MEMS (Micro Electrical
Mechanical Systems).
• Oklahoma City Community College offers
a Nanotechnology and MEMS program.
• The Oklahoma State Dept. of Career and
Technology and OSU Okmulgee are
partnering on an NSF grant to create the
Oklahoma Nanotechnology Education
Initiative.
 Nano Workforce Trends
• Before 2010, the market for
nanotechnology products and services is
estimated to reach $1 trillion in the U.S.
economy.
• This market will require anywhere from
800,000 to two million new jobs.
• Most of these workers will require at least
two year postsecondary degrees.
 Nanomedicine
• NanoBioMagnetics is an Edmond,
Oklahoma company that has
demonstrated the ability to move
nanoparticles through the body to specific
cells. In the future, companies like
NanoBioMagnetics anticipate being able to
attach a drug to the nanoparticle and then
deliver it reliably to the site of a cancerous
cell and kill it.
 Study of 200 Commercial Nano Products
in medical and health fields

• Show enhanced platforms for drug development and

delivery
• Nanoparticles such as colloidal gold, Quantum dots,
liposomes, dendrimers and fullerenes are being used in
pharmaceutical drug discovery and formulations for
buckyball-3

encapsulating drugs for drug delivery

• Other biophase materials offer promise for tissue
engineering products 8324cov1a
0003i37d liposomes
395px-Fluorescence_in_various_sized_CdSe_quantum_dots
 Self Healing Composites
• Polymeric and composite
materials are subject to
weakening due to fatigue
cracking. A self-healing
composite has the
potential to defend
against material failure
due to fatigue and to
greatly improve product
safety and reliability. Patent
6858659 - Office of Technology Management – University of Illinois
Urbana Champian
 Automotive Paint – Mercedes-Benz
• The 2007 Mercedes-
Benz SL series cars
sport a protective
coating of
nanoparticles that
provides a three-fold
improvement in the
scratch resistance of
the paintwork.
 Behr Paints Offers NanoGuard
• Behr’s best line of paint uses
nanoparticles to provide a long lasting,
anti-fade, more durable house paint that
also prevents mildew.
 Nano Coatings
• Self-cleaning
• Scratch-resistant
• Anti-icing and anti-fogging
• Antimicrobial
• UV protection
• Corrosion-resistant
• Waterproofing
 Nano Cable
• Nano Ridge Material and • The technology is based on
Boeing (Long beach) are carbon nanotubes which
partners on a $5.75 million conduct greater amounts of
Advanced Technology electric current than copper
Program to develop Nano while having only 1/6th the
Cable by 2010. Nano weight.
Cable is a lightweight,
highly conductive, electrical • By 2010, the market for
wire and cable that could conductive polymer cable
bring significant gains in is expected to be 465
fuel savings, energy million lbs per year, worth
efficiency and operating $1.4 billion annually.
costs.
 ARC Outdoors –Broken Arrow
• ARC Outdoors utilizes nano silver in
making cloth for special purposes and
currently has a line of anti-microbial
clothing for hunters because the nano
silver cloth eliminates odor/scent. These
clothes are sold through Bass Pro Shops,
Cabalas and some Wal-Mart stores.
• ARC is working on developing a line of
hospital uniforms that also will be anti-
microbial.
 Insulation
• Nanoscale materials hold great promise as
insulators because of their extremely high
surface-to-volume ratio. This gives them the
ability to trap still air within a material layer of
minimal thickness. Insulating nanomaterials
may be sandwiched between rigid panels,
applied as thin films, or painted on as coatings.
• Pioneer Builders (of Drumright) now offers
Nanosulate spray-on insulation with an
equivalent r-value of 50.
 XetaComp
• XetaComp (Lawton)
manufactures nanoparticles of
titanium dioxide that enables the
production of a “clear”, non-
greasy, non-oily sunscreen
called SunVex.

• Their nanoparticles may soon be

in many other skin care products.