NANOSCIENCE

Thinking Small to Do Big Things

Presented by

Connie Churchill
and
Auste Vygantas
 Resources and Credits
• University of Wisconsin at Madison –
Materials Research Science and Engineering
Center
http://www.mrsec.wisc.edu/nano
This site includes a wealth of visuals and
information. It is also the source of the
“Exploring the Nanoworld” Kit you will be using.
 Resources and Credits
• Northwestern University – Institute for
Nanotechnology
– Nanotechnology/Nanoscience – Materials World
Module (Teacher Edition, Beta Version) c. 2003
– Alyson Whitney (Chemistry graduate student)–
provided several of the PowerPoint slides you will see
– Hilary Godwin (Chemistry Chair) donated the materials
for activities C and E
– Korin Wheeler (Chemistry graduate student)-
provided additional information from the
Nanotechnology Module
 What Is A Nanometer?

Hair
Penny
100 µ m
2 cm

(m) 10-2 10-3 10-4 10-5 10-6 10-7 10-8 10-9

cm mm µ m nm
Raindrop
1 mm
Red Blood Cell
5µ m
 Now Entering The NANO-ZONE

Bacteriophage Gold Particles

60-70 nm 13 nm & 50 nm

100 80 60 40 20 1
(nm)

Flu Virus
100 nm
DNA
Diameter = 2 nm
 Powers of Ten

• Activity A – Exploring Powers of Ten

from “Exploring the Nanoworld” LEDs in
Traffic Lights
• http://www.powersof10.com
 Nanotechnology Is Not A New Phenomenon

The Lycurgus Cup: 4th Century A.D.

Green = Reflected Light

Red = Transmitted Light

Image of silver/gold
nanoparticle in the
Lycurgus cup

The British Museum. http://www.thebritishmuseum.ac.uk/ (March 2004)

 Why Is NanoScience Popular Now
• Richard Feynman’s Presentation – Dec 29, 1959
“There is plenty of room at the bottom”
“In the year 2000, when they look back at this age,
they will wonder why it was not until the year 1960
that anybody began seriously to move in this
direction.”
• http://www.zyvex.com/nanotech/feynman.html
• Feynman Prizes
“There’s Plenty of Room at the
Bottom”
Why Is NanoScience Popular Now
• Development of Tools – “Seeing” and
“Manipulating” at the Nano-Level
– STM (Scanning Tunneling Microscopy)
– AFM (Atomic Force Microscopy)
– Activity B – Probing Surfaces
Activity B - Probing Surfaces
Activity B – Probing Surfaces
Which One?
Seeing Atoms
 Seeing Atoms

• http://www.almaden.ibm.com/vis/stm/catalogue.
html
 Changing Properties by Changing
Size
• Activity C – Directions (see written
directions)
• Activity D – Directions (see written
directions – this activity is actually a
demonstration done by the workshop
leaders)
• Discussion
 Why Is Nanotechnology So Cool?
Bulk Gold
mp = 1064° C
Color = gold

1 nm gold particles 20 nm gold particles 100 nm gold particles

mp = 700 °C mp = ~1000 °C mp = ~1000 °C
λ max = 420 nm λ max = 521 nm λ max = 575 nm
Color = brown-yellow Color = red Color = purple-pink
 Applications
• Sunscreens
• Diagnostics
• Automobile Converters
• Self-Cleaning Windows
 Activity E - Nanolithography
• Background
• Directions
• Discussion – series vs parallel fabrication
• Applications – computer chips
 Nanofabrication: Top-Down
vs. Bottom-Up
If you could make one slice per minute, how long would
take you to cut a dime into 1 nm slices?

1,000,000,000 seconds or 31.7 years

ou could add one atom per second, how

g would it take to create a 13 nm gold
) colloid?

40,000 seconds per colloid or

250,000,000 days to make
billion colloidal nanoparticles
Nanofabrication: Serial vs.
Parallel

Nanoscience

Nanoscience
Nanoscience
Nanoscience
 Nanosphere Lithography
Technique
2. Drop Nanosphere
1. Clean Substrate 3. Dry
Solution

6. Image Nanostructures 5. Remove Nanospheres

4. Deposit Metal

5000 nm
 Nanosphere Lithography
Technique
Atomic Force Microscope Image
125 nm

Hole in Mask
5000 nm
Nanosphere (Diameter = 400 nm)
Size Scale Comparison
Nanosphere
Diameter = 400 n

Aggregated Colloid
Diameter = 100 nm

Single Gold (Au) Collo

Diameter = 13 nm

Gold (Au) Atom

Diamter = 0.32 nm
 Activity E Procedure

1. Build a triangular template using craft sticks.

Use the masking tape to fasten the sticks at
the corners.
2. Cut a piece of contact paper approximately 5”
x 5” and place sticky side up flat on the
counter top. You may also want to secure it in
place with some masking tape.
3. Place the template onto the contact paper and
pack the “nanospheres” into the template.
 Activity E Procedures
4. “Look” through the mask to see the resulting
“nanoparticles” – sprinkle with a small amount of
talcum powder. Carefully remove the spheres
and frame.
5. Cover the top surface of contact paper with
colored construction paper.
6. Turn over and note pattern
7. Vary the template shape, “nanosphere” size, and
other factors to create other “nanoparticle”
geometries.
Template #1
Pattern Produced from Template #1
Can you make pattern #2 ?
Solution for Challenge Pattern #2:
Can you make pattern #2 ?
Solution for Challenge Pattern #3
Can you make pattern #4?
Solution for Challenge Pattern #4
 Nanostructures

Noble Metal Nanoparticles Carbon Nanotubes

Sun, Y.; Xia, Y. Science Courtesy of the

2002, 298, 2176. Van Duyne group

CdSe Quantum Dots

Baughman, R. H.; Zakhidov, A. A.;

de Heer, W. A. Science 2002, 297, 787

Vigolo, B; Penicuad, A.; Coulon, C.; Sauder, C.;

Courtesy of Liza Babayon Pailler, R Journey, C.; Bernier, P. Poulin, P.
Science 2000, 290, 1331
 Carbon Nanotubes: Crossbar
array of a set of parallel CNTs
on a substrate and a set of
perpendicular CNTs
suspended on a periodic array
of supports.
Each cross point
corresponds to a device
element.

Well-defined OFF and ON

states. Switching between ON
and OFF states can take place
by charging the nanotubes to
produce attractive or repulsive
electrostatic forces. Molecular
scale electromechanical
C.M. Lieber et. al. Science 2000, 289, 94. devices!
 Memory Metals
• Made of a Ni and Ti alloy
• Discovery
• Activity E
• What’s Happening – see hot and cold
models on p.19 of “Exploring the
Nanoworld” booklet
 Memory Metal Uses
(Eye Glass Frames and Braces)
Memory Metal Uses
(Surgical Stents)
Memory Metal Art
Memory Metal Art
 Bucky Balls
(Buckministerfullerenes)

Possible Uses
• In Medicine
• In Electronics
• In Optics
• As Hairy Balls