1. Exploring Nanoscale Science and Engineering through Carbon Nanotubes
John Jaszczak, Physics
Yoke Khin Yap, Physics
Howard Wang, Mat. Sci. & Eng.
Owen Mills, Mat. Sci. & Eng.

2. 1st a Brief Survey…
What do you know
about nano?

3. What is Nano Anyway? A very small length scale 10-9 m 0.000000001 m
Size of small clusters of atoms
Ultimate scale at which nature designs
STM image of carbon atoms on the surface of graphite (courtesy of John Rakovan).
(Click for animation.)

4. What is Nanotechnology?
The application of nanostructures into useful nanoscale devices.
The next industrial revolution?

5. What’s So Special About Nano?
Transitional properties between atoms and bulk matter
New properties
Tunable properties
Small size
New applications
Compact/economical
Economic/societal/ethical implications
0.5 mm Gold Crystal
From Nevada
The Space Window
Washington National Gallery

6. Funding US Government (National Nanotechnology Initiative)
2003 – $862 million (actual)
2004 – $961 million (appropriated)
2005 – $982 million (requested)
Foreign Governments
Even more…
Private Industry
Intel
50 Mbit
SRAM

7. The Amazing World of Carbon
Buckyballs
Graphite
Diamond
Nanotubes

8. Carbon nanotubes
CNT is a tubular form of carbon with diameter as small as 0.4 nm.
Can be metallic, semiconductor, or superconductor, depending on structure.
Excellent thermal conductor.
Extraordinary mechanical properties:
Young’s modulus > 1Tera Pascal (> 5x stronger than steel), as stiff as diamond (tensile strength ~ 200 GPa).
Bend without breaking.

9. Carbon nanotubes made at Michigan Tech Dr. Y. K. Yap (Physics)

10. Applications Mechanical (sky elevator?)
Strong, heat-conducting fabrics
Scanning Probe Microscope tips
Hydrogen Storage
Fuel Cells
Electrical: conductors, gates, batteries…
Chemical & Biological probes
Flat panel displays
Nano lithography

11. Other Applications: Smart Drugs Tissue Repair Disease Prevention
Inorganic nano assembly
Model
Information storage, transfer, usage
Use bio as step toward making inorganic nano
Bio-computing

12. Ethical Questions: What can we do? What should we do?
What are the implications?
1999 Interior for the Guardian newspaper
habbi2pop.html

13. Societal Implications
Potential for great “good”
Cost (could $ be better spent?)
Economic impact: jobs
Greatest impact in unimagined areas
Public Acceptance/Resistance
Ambivalence
Unintended consequences
Positive & Negative Hype

14. The Near Future at MTU: See: nano.mtu.edu
Fundamentals of Nanoscale Science and Engineering (2 credits, Spring 2005)
New interdisciplinary minor in “Nanoscale Science and Engineering (Nanotechnology)” proposed to be offered starting Fall 2005.
See: nano.mtu.edu