Nano Technology

http://dynamo.ecn.purdue.edu/~janes/whats_nano.htm
An Interdisciplinary Endeavor

Chemistry Biology Physics Engineering

Nanoscience
&
Nanotechnology

Medicine Materials Science

Biotechnology Information
Technology
What is Nano?
 How Big is a Nanometer?
• In the time it takes to read this sentence, your
fingernails will have grown approximately one
nanometer (1 nm).

www.starling-fitness.com
How Surface Area Scales
(Changes)
For a fixed total
volume, decreasing
the radius by a factor
of two doubles the
surface

Crushing a 1cm
particle into nano
particles increases the
surface area
thousands of times!

6
 Introduction
• Coal – atoms rearrangement – diamond
• Sand - atoms rearrangement - computer chips.
Nanotechnology
o Rearranging of atoms whichever we want
o Sub classification of physics, chemistry, biology
and Engg fields
o Areas of research dealing with objects measured in
nanometers.
 o Study of atoms, molecules and structures between
1 and 100 nanometers.

Example:
• Human hair is approximately 80,000 nm wide
• Red blood cell – 7000 nm wide
Nanotechnology first laid out in 1959 by the physicist
Richard Feyman - atoms – below nanometer in size
molecules and proteins – range from nanometer
upwards.
 Nanoscale
• Object having nanometer size 1 – 100 nm range
Nanometer:
• One billionth of a meter or 10 A°.
• Particle having radius of 1000 A° can be considered
as ‘nano’ ( Greek word – dwarf)
• Finger nails grow – one nanometer per second.
Nano particle :
No of atoms and molecules bonded together with radius
of 100 nm.
Nano science :
study of phenomena and manipulation of materials at
atomic molecular and macro molecular scales where
particles differ from large scale.

Nano technology:
controlling shape and size in nanometer scale.

Nano materials :
 Length less than 100 nm
 3 – D structure with domain size smaller than 100 nm.
Large number of grain boundary interface
Cluster of Nanoparticles contains less than 104
molecules.
Atoms corresponding diameter of few nano meters
Particle size in nano materials about 1nm
Nano particles – hybrid properties
Non linear optical and magnetic properties

few atoms – change in geometry – small sizes.

• Electrons – undergo – quantum confinement – shows
quantum dots – remarkable – increase in surface –
decrease in size – Nano particles 10 nm diameter –
10% surface of atoms – 1 nm size particle – 100 %
surface of atoms.
• Reducing particle size – Create more surface sites –
changes – surface pressure – results – change – in
interface particle – spacing – larger surface volume
ratio – variations in surface free energy – change in
chemical potential – affects – thermodynamically
properties.
Development of electronic properties as a
function of cluster size

Each band has a width that reflects the interaction between

atoms, with a bandgap between the conduction and the valence
bands that reflects the original separation of the bonding and
antibonding states.
Electronic DOS and dimensionality

Size effects are most

evident at band edges
(semiconductor NPs).

DOS (dn/dE) as a function

of dimensionality.
3D case is for free particles.
 Some Unusual Physical Properties of Nanomaterials 15
1. Reduced Melting Point -- Nanomaterials may have a significantly lower melting
point or phase transition temperature and appreciably reduced lattice constants
(spacing between atoms is reduced), due to a huge fraction of surface atoms in
the total amount of atoms.
2. Ultra Hard -- Mechanical properties of nanomaterials may reach the theoretical
strength, which are one or two orders of magnitude higher than that of single
crystals in the bulk form. The enhancement in mechanical strength is simply due
to the reduced probability of defects.
3. Optical properties of nanomaterials can be significantly different from bulk
crystals.
--- Semiconductor Blue Shift in adsorption and emission due to an increased
band gap.
Quantum Size Effects,
4. Electrical conductivity decreases with a reduced dimension due to increased
surface scattering.
Electrical conductivity increases due to the better ordering .
5. Magnetic properties of nanostructured materials are distinctly different from that of
bulk materials. Ferromagnetism disappears and transfers to
superparamagnetism in the nanometer scale due to the huge surface energy.
6. Self-purification is an intrinsic thermodynamic property of nanostructures and
nanomaterials due to enhanced diffusion of impurities/defects/dislocations to the
nearby surface.
7. Increased perfection enhances chemical stability.
 Fundamental challenges in nano structure
materials are
• Ability to control the scale of system
• Ability to obtain required composition.
• Also details such as defects concentration
gradients etc.
• Understand the influence of size of building
blocks in nano structured materials.
 Moore’s law
• Gorden Moore - founder of Intel corporation –
development of integrated circuit electronics.
Moore’s first law:

Space – transistor on a chip – shrinks – half

every 18 months – space that one transistor 15 years –
ago – hold 1000 transistors today.
Moore’s second law:

Cost of building a chip manufacturing

plant doubles – every 36 months.
 Quantum Confinement
Definition:
• Quantum Confinement is the spatial confinement of electron-
hole pairs (excitons) in one or more dimensions within a
material.
– 1D confinement: Quantum Wells
– 2D confinement: Quantum Wire
– 3D confinement: Quantum Dot
• Quantum confinement is more prominent in semiconductors
because they have an energy gap in their electronic band
structure.
• Metals do not have a bandgap, so quantum size effects are less
prevalent. Quantum confinement is only observed at
dimensions below 2 nm.
Quantum Confinement in Nanostructures: Overview

Electrons Confined in 1 Direction:

Quantum Wells (thin films):
 Electrons can easily move in ky
2 kx
Dimensions! 1 Dimensional
nz
Quantization!
Electrons Confined in 2 Directions: ny
Quantum Wires: kx
 Electrons can easily move in 2 Dimensional nz
1 Dimension!
Quantization!
Electrons Confined in 3 Directions: nz
Quantum Dots: 3 Dimensional
nx Quantization!
 Electrons can easily movenyin
0
Dimensions!
Each further confinement direction changes a continuous k component to
a discrete component characterized by a quantum number n.
 Quantum confinement

 Trap particles and restrict their motion

 Quantum confinement produces new material behavior/phenomena
 “Engineer confinement”- control for specific applications
 Structures

 Quantum dots (0-D) only confined

states, and no freely moving ones
 Nanowires (1-D) particles travel only
along the wire
 Quantum wells (2-D) confines
particles within a thin layer
 Quantum Confinement

• The reduction in the number of atoms in a material results in the

confinement of normally delocalized energy states.
• Electron-hole pairs become spatially confined when the diameter of a
particle approaches the de Broglie wavelength of electrons in the
conduction band.
• As a result the energy difference between energy bands is increased with
decreasing particle size.

Energy

Eg
Eg
 Quantum Confinement

• What does this mean?

– Quantum dots are bandgap tunable by size. We can engineer their optical and electrical
properties.
– Smaller QDs have a large bandgap.
– Absorbance and luminescence spectrums are blue shifted with decreasing particle size.

Energy

555 nm 650 nm
 Quantum Dot: Introduction

 Quantum dots are usually regarded as semiconductors by

definition.
 Similar behavior is observed in some metals. Therefore, in some
cases it may be acceptable to speak about metal quantum dots.
 Typically, quantum dots are composed of groups II-VI, III-V, and
IV-VI materials.
 QDs are bandgap tunable by size which means their optical and
electrical properties can be engineered to meet specific applications.
 Quantum Dots: Optics
Absorption and emission occur at specific wavelengths, which
are related to QD size

Eg
 QDs: Intermediate Bands

Conventional band structure Intermediate bands in the band gap

does not absorb light with allow for absorption of low energy
energy < Eg light

Intermediate
Eg band
formed by
an array of
QDs
Quantum wires

Conducting material about – 10 nm – less

width, thickness – quantum wire – 2D –
polymer chains – Nano wire – Nano tubes.
single walled – Nano tube – dia – 2mm –
length of 100 µm – Narrow dimensional
structure called Nano wire.
Sensors
Zirconia – hard, brittle – ceramic – silicon Nitride –
silicon Carbide – high temperature furnaces – excellent
chemical – and high temperature properties.
Medicine
Disease diagnosis – drug delivery – molecular imaging –
useful in –MRI ( magnetic resonance imaging) – tumor
cell treatment – Nano silver particles – effective against
fungi – and viruses of hapatitis – herpes and HIV – tak
779 – drug blocks HIV virus entry to body.
SDC – 172 - prevent HIV infection – zirconium
oxide – Nanocrystalline – hard water – resistant – bio-
corrosion – resistant – SiC – Nanocrystalline - low
weight – high strength.
Future
NanoNets - Solar cells – Sensors – Touch screens.

Other applications

Sunglasses – ultra thin polymer coatings.

Scratch resistant coatings
Wind proof and water proof clothes
Sunscreens and cosmetics
Sports equipments
Automobile fuel lines – Nanotubes
Cutting Tools – Nano crystalline materials.
Washing machine – antimicrobial property
Hydrogen storage device
Permanent magnets – magnetic recording
Nano magneto resistance
Computer storage materials
Disadvantages and risks of Nanotechnology

 High cost
 Some Nano particles – burst into flames.
 Some Nano particles – enter the body easily
 Danger to brain and vital organs.
 Carbon Nanotubes (CNT)
Surnio Lijirna 1991 – Made from graphene plain –
Single or multi walled layer – very strong and flexible –
Carbon atoms – hallow cylinder – ends closed by semi-
Fullerene - different forms a. Armchair b.Zig zag
c. Chiral tubes.
• Some other Nano examples
- Inorganic nanowires
- Protein nanotubes
- Nano in gene sequencing
CNT is a tubular form of carbon with diameter as small as 1 nm.
Length: few nm to microns.

CNT is configurationally equivalent to a two dimensional graphene

sheet rolled into a tube.

CNT exhibits extraordinary mechanical

properties: Young’s modulus over
1 Tera Pascal, as stiff as diamond, and tensile
strength ~ 200 GPa.

CNT can be metallic or semiconducting,

depending on chirality.
• The strongest and most flexible molecular
material because of C-C covalent bonding
and seamless hexagonal network architecture

• Young’s modulus of over 1 TPa vs 70 GPa for

Aluminum, 700 GPA for C-fiber
- strength to weight ratio 500 time > for
Al; similar improvements over steel and
titanium; one order of magnitude
improvement over graphite/epoxy

• Maximum strain ~10% much higher than any

material

• Thermal conductivity ~ 3000 W/mK in the axial

direction with small values in the radial direction
• Electrical conductivity six orders of magnitude higher than copper

• Can be metallic or semiconducting depending on chirality

- ‘tunable’ bandgap
- electronic properties can be tailored through application
of external magnetic field, application of
mechanical deformation…

• Very high current carrying capacity

• Excellent field emitter; high aspect ratio

and small tip radius of curvature are
ideal for field emission

• Can be functionalized
• CNT quantum wire interconnects
• Diodes and transistors for
computing
• Capacitors
• Data Storage
• Field emitters for instrumentation
• Flat panel displays
• THz oscillators
• High strength composites
• Cables, tethers, beams
• Multifunctional materials
• Functionalize and use as polymer back bone
- plastics with enhanced properties like “blow
molded steel”
• Heat exchangers, radiators, thermal barriers, cryotanks
• Radiation shielding
• Filter membranes, supports
• Body armor, space suits

Challenges
- Control of properties, characterization
- Dispersion of CNT homogeneously in host materials
- Large scale production
- Application development
• CNT based microscopy: AFM, STM… Challenges
• Nanotube sensors: force, pressure, chemical…
• Controlled growth
• Biosensors • Functionalization with
probe molecules, robustness
• Molecular gears, motors, actuators • Integration, signal processing
• Fabrication techniques
• Batteries, Fuel Cells: H2, Li storage
• Nanoscale reactors, ion channels
• Biomedical
- in vivo real time crew health monitoring
- Lab on a chip
- Drug delivery
- DNA sequencing
- Artificial muscles, bone replacement,
bionic eye, ear...
• CNT has been grown by laser ablation
(pioneering at Rice) and carbon arc process
(NEC, Japan) - early 90s.
- SWNT, high purity, purification methods
• CVD is ideal for patterned growth
(electronics, sensor applications)
- Well known technique from
microelectronics
- Hydrocarbon feedstock
- Growth needs catalyst
(transition metal)
- Multiwall tubes at
500-800° deg. C.
- Numerous parameters
influence CNT growth