NANO TECHNOLOGY

BASICS TO LATEST ADVANCEMENTS

(Nanotubes and Nanorings)
DEFINING THE FUTURE TREND OF LIFE

By

S.VASUDHA D.VARUN KUMAR REDDY

02841A0451 02841A0449
ECE III Year ECE III Year
Karshak Engineering College Karshak Engineering College
UPPAL UPPAL

E-Mail :
vasudha_s84@yahoo.com master_marvel@yahoo.co.in
 INTRODUCTION

Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter on the nanoscale. A nanometer is a very small

measure of length- it is one billionth of a meter, a length so small that only three or four
atoms lined up in a row would be a nanometer. So, nanotechnology involves designing and
building materials and devices where the basic structure of the material or device is specified
on the scale of one or a few nanometers. Ultimately, nanotechnology will mean materials and
devices in which every atom is assigned a place, and having every atom in the right place
will be essential for the functioning of the device.
Another way of thinking about the ultimate form of nanotechnology, is that it will be based
upon molecular machinery - machines made by having every atom in a designed place and
performing a designed function. These molecular machines will be capable of making other
molecular machines and other products in which the atomic structure is precisely arranged to
make the desired product. These molecular machines that will be able to assemble atoms into
complex structures have been termed "assemblers." Such assemblers will be able to build
just about anything that exists or can be designed, anything that is compatible with the basic
laws of physics. This includes being able to make copies of themselves, so eventually we
have an entire manufacturing economy based upon molecular manufacturing, where the
capital base of the economy could double in minutes instead of years, thus creating immense
wealth.
The kinds of products that could be built will range from microscopic, very powerful
computers to super strong materials ten times as strong as steel, but much lighter, to food or
other biological tissue. All these products would be very inexpensive because the molecular
machines that built them will basically take atoms from garbage or dirt, and energy from
sunshine, and rearrange those atoms into useful products, just like trees and crops take dirt,
water and sunshine and rearrange the atoms into wood and food.
Right now the only molecular machines that exist are those inside living cells. Right now
mother nature and evolution are the only true nanotechnologists. In effect it is nature itself
that we would like to mimic. This is how biology and genetics can become relative to
nanotechnology. As a matter of fact there are many disciplines that are constructive to the
goal of nanotech, which is why there is no nano degree at this point in time. Too many
department heads to merge together, in understanding and using the molecular machines that
biology provides for us. In our homes nanotechnology could effect us in many ways. The
super strong materials and very cheap and powerful computers along with cheap
manufacturing mean that our homes in a few decades from now will all be made from smart
materials. Retractable walls, doors, paper thin televisions. Automatic cleaning floors, trash
would also be automatically removed, assemblers could rearrange the atoms in garbage to
recycle and produce clean water or food. Safety control could be installed for example: if
your area was hit by an earthquake, the smart, super strong materials in your house would
move to neutralize the effects of the quake or automatically repair any damage. The contents
of the house could rearrange to suit your needs or your moods. Any consumer good you
wanted could be manufactured by home molecular manufacturing systems about the size of a
microwave.
This safety control mechanism could also be used with automobiles. Cars would feature
utility fogs, tiny machines suspended in the air, that would instantly form a cushion around
each person to protect the occupants in case of an accident. Cars would be self repairing,
essentially drive themselves, and create their own fuel. Some even speculate that the car's
could fly, Jetson style! Nanomachines would guard our yards from damaging insects.

Undesirable pests could be eaten by the nanomachines (have to be very careful with the
programming her). Automatic trimmings and pooper scoopers could be features as well. My
favorite earth applications are ones that cure environmental damage. We could put soil in it's
most perfect state, therefore eliminating starvation in lands that have intolerant soil for
growing food, and solve rainforest issues, revive extinct plants animals and clean up
pollution. The environment could be helped by nano applications via the ozone layer damage
or nuclear pollution wastes. It turns out that one of the most useful atoms to use in building
things with nanotechnology is carbon. Carbon is also part of carbon dioxide, which many
think is a major contributor to green house warming. Nanomachines could be programmed to
derive some of their materials by cleaning the atmosphere of carbon dioxide and clean out
other polluting molecules just as easily. Also, since molecular manufacturing builds things
by keeping track of each atom, there will be no pollution produced by molecular
manufacturing systems. The biotechnology applications of nanotech are immense.

Microscopic machines the size of our own cells or smaller could travel around the body,
collecting information about what is wrong and then doing whatever molecular surgery is
necessary to fix the problem. Viruses, bacteria, and cancer cells could be precisely identified
and removed, without disturbing healthy tissue. Damage from injuries or from normal aging
could be completely healed by supplying the right molecules at the right place and time to
tell the body which new cells are needed where, or molecular damage to cells could be
repaired, molecule by molecule. Eventually people will be able to communicate with these
machines in their bodies by thought, and not only be able to stay young and healthy, but to
modify their bodies and augment their natural functions at will. Perhaps some people will
replace some of their natural tissue with super strong materials so that they could jump out of
an airplane five miles up, land comfortably on their feet and walk away. Or swim underwater
for half and hour using oxygen stored in artificial blood cells.
Military applications that are considered are of course mainly warfare. Molecular
manufacturing will make it possible to produce massive amounts of conventional weapons
very quickly and cheaply. These would be similar to programmed germs or viruses that
spread unseen. Thus armies of trillions upon trillions of microscopic machines could be
programmed to very rapidly reduce any unprotected population, or specific individuals
within that population, to dust. Replicating assemblers could duplicate weapons but better,
and quickly. Predictions of the full impacts of nanotechnology are full ranging. Some people
think that we could have crude assemblers within ten years. Some scientists don't think such
assemblers will ever be built, although everyone agrees more limited forms of
nanotechnology are coming soon. How quickly we move from crude assemblers to complex
nanorobots and cell repair machines depends partly on how good we become at writing very
complex software. Or how quickly we develop very intelligent (or even AI) computers that
can do it for us. It is money, as in most cases that will keep research going and the more
funding, the quicker the results. I live for the hope that nanotechnology will occur in my
 lifetime, and I will tell the young people of the future what a old fashioned, diseased and
polluted world used to be like.

WHAT’S LATEST IN NANOTECHNOLOGY?

NANOELECTRONICS: Controlling Nanotube Growth

Next-generation computer chips, integrated circuits, and the microelectro-mechanical

(MEMS) devices that power them depend upon carbon nanotubes that can be grown up,
down, sideways, and in all three dimensions. Pulickel Ajayan and G. Ramanath are the first
to achieve this unprecedented, specific, and controlled nanotube growth.

The research, reported in the April 4 issue of the journal Nature, paves the way for
Lilliputian devices that depend on tiny networks and architectures. Ajayan and Ramanath
have combined formerly disparate areas of research to grow and direct the assembly of
nanotubes.

The method is based on a selective growth process that allows the nanotubes to grow
perpendicular to the silica-coated substrate. By chiseling the silica into predetermined
shapes, the researchers are able to precisely control and direct the nanotube growth. Their
use of gas phase delivery of a metal catalyst, essential for nanotube growth, makes their
growth process more flexible and more easily scalable than conventional methods.

"It's a simple and elegant process that provides unprecedented control over nanotube
growth," Ajayan says.
NANOWELDING: Creating Tiny Junctions

Single-walled nanotubes are pure carbon cylinders with remarkable electronic properties.
Pulickel Ajayan and his colleagues recently have discovered how to weld these nanotubes,
paving the way for fabrication of molecular circuits and nanotube networks.

Ajayan and researchers in Germany, Mexico, the U.K., and Belgium used irradiation and
heat to form the welded junctions. The research was featured in the Oct. 7 issue of Business
Week's "Developments To Watch."

This is the first time single-walled nanotubes have been welded, although multi-walled
nanotubes with junctions previously have been created using growth techniques. The
electrical properties of single-walled nanotubes surpass those of multi-walled tubes. This is
why so many researchers have been anxious to try this experiment, says Ajayan.

"No one knew if junctions could be created," Ajayan says."Single-walled carbon nanotubes
are perfect cylinders without any defects. But, to create junctions between them, intertube
carbon-carbon bonds need to form. The irradiation and heating process we use creates just
enough defects for these bonds to form without damaging their electrical properties."

The results were obtained after several years of ongoing experimentation. The difficulty was
finding nanotubes that cross and touch. This is critical for the initiation of intertube links.
"Unfortunately, we can't control this type of alignment just yet," Ajayan says.

The researchers used a special electron microscope that has the capability to irradiate and
produce the heat necessary for the experiment. The high-voltage microscope, located in
Stuttgart, Germany, is one of only a few worldwide.
NANOALIGNMENT: Long Hairlike Nanotubes

For the first time, Pulickel Ajayan and other researchers have created a simplified method for
making long, continuous, hairlike strands of carbon nanotubes that are as long as eight
inches. This breakthrough, reported in the May 3 issue of Science, is a first step toward
creating such products as microcables for electrical devices or mechanically robust
electrochemical actuators for artificial muscles.

The researchers from Rensselaer and Tsinghua University in Beijing found that chemical
vapor deposition (CVD), a widely used technique to grow nanotubes, has a high yield of
long strands when a sulfur-containing compound and hydrogen are added to the process.

The new method produced nanotubes that measured 20 centimeters, much longer than
conventional nanotubes, Ajayan says.

"Carbon nanotubes are generally microns in length, which is not long enough for any
practical purpose," Ajayan says. "We have created strands with nearly aligned nanotubes that
are as long as 20 centimeters. The nanotubes are well-ordered in these structures and self-
assemble during the growth process, which means we don't end up with an unusable lump
that looks like cooked spaghetti."

The process also could be an easier alternative to creating high-purity single-walled

nanotube material in general.
IGNITING NANOTUBES: Carbon Nanotubes Ignite

Researchers Pulickel Ajayan and G. Ramanath have discovered a surprising new property of
single-walled carbon nanotubes. When exposed to a conventional photographic flash, the
nanotubes emit a loud pop and then ignite.

The discovery, reported in the April 26 issue of the journal Science, could mean that the
nanotubes might be used in light sensors or to remotely trigger explosives and combustion
reactions. Researchers say that more testing needs to be done to realize these possibilities.

The researchers say that the loud popping sound heard after the flash is a well-known
phenomenon, called the photo-acoustic effect. It occurs when porous black objects, such as
carbon nanotubes, absorb a large amount of light, which results in the expansion and
contraction of the gas surrounding them, releasing sound.

What surprised the researchers was that the nanotubes then spontaneously ignited.

Graduate student Andres de la Guardia made the initial discovery when he took flash
photographs of the nanotubes.

Since the discovery, the researchers have found that, while the tubes burned only when
oxygen is present, their atomic structure was altered even in inert gas environments.

"From an applications perspective, our work opens up exciting possibilities of using low-
power light sources to create new forms of nanomaterials. The discovery will serve as a
starting point for developing nanotube-based actuators and sensors that rely on remote
activation and triggering," says Ramanath.
The research is a collaborative effort between Rensselaer, a French group headed by T.W.
Ebbesen, and researchers in Mexico and Germany.

NANOCRYSTALS: Symmetrical Crystals Created

Researchers Pulickel Ajayan and G. Ramanath have created large symmetrical crystals that
rarely occur in nature. These crystals could be harder than conventional engineering
materials. The discovery was made during attempts to make superconducting nanostructures
with a simple technique used to create carbon nanotubes. The research appeared as the cover
story in the June 13 issue of the Journal of Physical Chemistry. Ajayan and Ramanath
collaborated with other researchers at the University of Ulm in Germany.

The researchers used boron carbide, a common engineering material, in the high-temperature
experiment. In the ashes, they discovered large crystals with five-fold crystallographic
symmetry.

Nanosize five-fold symmetrical, or icosahedral, crystals are fairly common, but these larger
micron-size crystals with five-fold symmetry are rare in nature because their smaller units
cannot repeat their pattern infinitely to form space-filling structures. As the nuclei of these
crystals grow, the strain on the crystals increases. This causes them to revert to their common
bulk crystal structures.

Ajayan believes that the inherent structure of boron carbide, which has icosahedra units in
the unit cell, allows the crystals to grow to micron size without the strain.

"These crystals are unique due to their high symmetry," Ajayan says. "Because of the
hardness inherent to the crystal structure, we could anticipate a better material for
engineering, specific-ally coatings. It is exciting and fulfilling to find something that is quite
rare in nature, although we need to conduct further measurements to understand its
potential."
NANORINGS: Seamless circular 'nanorings' could be nanoscale sensors, resonators &
transducers

An article to be published in the February 27 issue of the journal Science introduces

"nanorings" as the newest member of a growing family of nanometer-scale structures based
on single crystals of zinc oxide, a semiconducting and piezoelectric material that has
important technological applications.

The rings, complete circles formed by a spontaneous self-coiling process, could serve as
nanometer-scale sensors, resonators and transducers Ð and provide a unique test bed for
studying piezoelectric effects and other phenomena at the small scale. The nanorings join
"nanobelts" and "nanosprings" in a family of zinc oxide structures produced by researchers at
the Georgia Institute of Technology using a high-temperature solid vapor process.

"Nanorings are made up of fine nanobelts that are rolled up as coils layer-by-layer with as
many as a hundred loops," said Zhong L. Wang, director of Georgia Tech's Center for
Nanoscience and Nanotechnology and a professor in the School of Materials Science and
Engineering. "This is a new nanostructure with a novel growth mechanism. The seamless
nanorings, each made of a uniformly deformed single crystal of zinc oxide, could be the
basis for nanoscale devices and serve as a model system for studying electrical and
mechanical coupling at the nanoscale."

The research has been sponsored by the National Science Foundation and NASA. Georgia
Tech has sought patent protection for the nanoring growth process, which was developed by
Wang and collaborators Xiang Yang Kong, Yong Ding and Rusen Yang.

The rings, which range in diameter from one to four microns and are 10-30 nanometers
thick, form in a horizontal tube furnace when a mixture of zinc oxide, indium oxide and
lithium carbonate Ð at a ratio of 20:1:1 Ð is heated to 1,400 degrees Celsius under a flow of
argon gas.

The structures form on an alumina substrate in a section of the furnace maintained at a

temperature of between 200 and 400 degrees C. They begin growing as nanobelts, long
ribbon-like structures that were first produced by Wang and his research team in 2001. The
belts have a width and thickness of about 15 nanometers.

The surfaces of these nanobelts are dominated by polar charges Ð positive on one side,
negative on the other Ð created by the terminations of zinc ions and oxygen ions on opposite
sides of the structures. That creates a spontaneous polarization across the thickness of the
nanobelts. If the nanobelts remain straight, the overall dipole moment diverges as they grow

longer. However, coiling the nanobelts into a ring neutralizes the polar charges, resulting in a
decrease in electrostatic energy. As the structures grow, therefore, long-range electrostatic
forces cause them to begin folding and coiling upon themselves, likely as a way to minimize
electrostatic energy in the system, Wang explains.

If the nanobelts fold onto themselves, the negatively- and positively-charged surfaces bind
together through charge attraction, and the structure continues growing parallel to the rim,
loop-by-loop. The charge attraction brings the loops together in perfect alignment.

After about 30 minutes in the furnace, the high temperature causes the coils to become
sintered together, with epitaxial and chemical bonding forming a single crystal that can no
longer be separated into individual loops. The resulting nanorings vary in width, composed
of as few as five and as many as 100 loops.

Wang says the lithium and indium materials facilitate the unique growth mechanism by
creating a planar defect in the zinc oxide nanobelt. That defect creates energetic conditions
and leads to rapid growth of the nanobelt along the rim.

Like the earlier structures, nanorings offer new possibilities for fabricating unique nanoscale
electromechanical systems, such as piezoelectric resonators for detecting single
biomolecules, nanoscale elastic bearings and actuators.

"Nanorings offer a combination of many unique and attractive properties in one system,"
said Wang. "We want to build some unique devices that will test different electromechanical
properties, particularly electro-mechanical coupling and applications in bio-detection. We
want to fully use the piezoelectric properties, in addition to the semiconductor properties,
because they will allow us to explore properties no other systems have."

Nanorings and nanosprings are candidates for building implantable sensors for real-time
monitoring of such biomedical measures as blood pressure, blood flow rate and stress at the
level of single cells, Wang said.

"This is a rich family of materials that allows us to make a broad range of structures with
interesting mechanical and electrical properties," he explained. "They could be very
important because other nanostructures do not have piezoelectric properties. The discovery
of these zinc oxide structures could open a few field of research in nanoscale piezoelectric
structures and devices. For biomedical applications, zinc oxide would also have the
advantage of being biocompatible."
In March 2001, Wang's research team announced in Science that they had created a new type
of nanometer-scale structure that could be the basis for inexpensive ultra-small sensors, flat-
panel display components and other electronic nanodevices. Dubbed nanobelts, the structures

could be fabricated from semiconducting metal oxides such as zinc oxide, producing ribbon-
like structures five to 100 nanometers wide and up to a millimeter or more in length.

The structures offer advantages for making nanoscale devices because of their well-defined
growth direction and regular and well-defined side surfaces. Their conductivity, bandgap,
surface properties and optical properties can be controlled by introducing oxygen vacancies
in the wurtzite crystalline structure.

Purdue's self-assembled 'nanorings' could boost computer memory

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. Ð Recent nanotechnology research at Purdue University could

pave the way toward faster computer memories and higher density magnetic data storage, all
with an affordable price tag.

Just like the electronics industry, the data storage industry is on the move toward nanoscale.
By shrinking components to below 1/10,000th the width of a human hair, manufacturers
could make faster computer chips with more firepower per square inch. However, the
technology for making devices in that size range is still being developed, and the smaller the
components get, the more expensive they are to produce.

Purdue chemist Alexander Wei may have come up with a surprisingly simple and cheap
solution to the shrinking data storage problem. Wei's research team has found a way to create
tiny magnetic rings from particles made of cobalt. The rings are much less than 100
nanometers across Ð an important threshold for the size-conscious computer industry Ð and
can store magnetic information at room temperature. Best of all, these "nanorings" form all
on their own, a process commonly known as self-assembly.

"The cobalt nanoparticles which form the rings are essentially tiny magnets with a north and
south pole, just like the magnets you played with as a kid," said Wei, who is an associate
professor of chemistry in Purdue's School of Science. "The nanoparticles link up when they
are brought close together. Normally you might expect these to form chains, but under the
right conditions, the particles will assemble into rings instead."
The research appeared as a "Very Important Paper" in the November issue of the chemistry
journal Angewandte Chemie. Wei collaborated with lead author Steven Tripp and Rafal
Dunin-Borkowski, an electron microscopist at the University of Cambridge.

The magnetic dipoles responsible for nanoring formation also produce a collective magnetic
state known as flux closure. There is strong magnetic force, or flux, within the rings
themselves, stemming from the magnetic poles each particle possesses. But after the particles
form rings, the net magnetic effect is zero outside. Tripp developed conditions leading to the
self-assembly of the cobalt nanorings, then initiated a collaboration with Dunin-Borkowski
to study their magnetic properties. By using a technique known as electron holography, the
researchers were able to observe directly the flux-closure states, which are stable at room
temperature.

"Magnetic rings are currently being considered as memory elements in devices for long-term
data storage and magnetic random-access memory," Wei said. "The rings contain a magnetic
field, or flux, which can flow in one of two directions, clockwise or counterclockwise.
Magnetic rings can thus store binary information, and unlike most magnets, the rings keep
the flux to themselves. This minimizes crosstalk and reduces error during data processing."

When you turn on your computer, it loads its operating system and whatever documents you
are working on into its RAM, or random-access memory. RAM is fast, enabling your
computer to make quick changes to whatever is stored there, but its chief drawback is its
volatility Ð it cannot perform without a continuous supply of electricity. Many people have
experienced the frustration of losing an unsaved document when their computer suddenly
crashes or loses power, causing all the data stored in RAM to vanish.

"Nonvolatile memory based on nanorings could in theory be developed," Wei said. " For the
moment, the nanorings are simply a promising development."

Preliminary studies have shown that the nanorings' magnetic states can be switched by
applying a magnetic field, which could be used to switch a nanoring "bit" back and forth
between 1 and 0. But according to Wei, perhaps the greatest potential for his group's findings
lay in the possibility of combining nanorings with other nanoscale structures.

"Integrating the cobalt nanorings with electrically conductive nanowires, which can produce
highly localized magnetic fields for switching flux closure states, is highly appealing." he
said. "Such integration may be possible by virtue of self-assembly."

Several research groups have created magnetic rings before but have relied on a "top-down"
manufacturing approach, which imposes serious limitations on size reduction.

"The fact that cobalt nanoparticles can spontaneously assemble into rings with stable
magnetic properties at room temperature is really remarkable," Wei said. "While this
discovery will not make nonvolatile computer memory available tomorrow, it could be an
important step towards its eventual development. Systems like this could be what the data
storage industry is looking for."

Wei's group is associated with the Birck Nanotechnology Center, which will be one of the
largest university facilities in the nation dedicated to nanotechnology research when
construction is completed in 2005. Nearly 100 groups associated with the center are pursuing
research topics such as nanometer-sized machines, advanced materials for nanoelectronics
and nanoscale biosensors.

CONCLUSION
Though this “Technology at Nanoscale” is in its budding stages it
promises a bright future which still remains a dream as on today.
Nanotechnology is sure to define a new trend of life with gadgets that can fit
onto or into anything and make the impossible possible. Various developed
countries are spending big money in the research in the field of nanotechnology
which has its branches spread over any identifiable area of study today.
Nanotechnology can enhance the present day achievements in various fields by
many scale.
Nanotechnology despite all these advantages is also seen to cause few
problems especially concerned with the health of people working with things
under nanoscale. Other challenges faced in the research is the construction of
tools work with at nano dimensions.
Lets hope that we are sooner or later going to live in a world anything
can be done by using the so called
“Invisible to the Eye Instruments – The Nanomachines”.