1. Nanotechnology in the Community College An Interdisciplinary Approach
A. Lamont Tyler & Holly J. Moore
Dept. of Engineering
Salt Lake Community College

2. Salt Lake Community College
Two-year Community College
In Utah State System of Higher Education
3 Main Campuses
11 Satellite Campuses
in Salt Lake City Metropolitan Area
Total Headcount ~60,000
FTE in Courses for Credit ~28,000

3. General Education Requirement
AA (Associate of Arts) &
AS (Associate of Science)
34 Semester hour credits
18-19 hours in distribution areas
(minimum of one course in each area)
Physical Science, Biological Science, Social Science,
Fine Arts, Humanities, and Interdisciplinary
Introduction to Nanotechnology--Interdisciplinary
( 3 semester-credit hours )

4. e-Portfolio Assignments Reflective Comments
1. Power Point File for Oral Presentation to Class
2. Paper on Same Subject
Reflective Comments
Students must add
their own Comments

5. e-Portfolio Requirement

6. Explosion in Interest What to cover in an Introductory Course?
Challenge
What to cover in an Introductory Course?
Historically Important events
Applications-experiment and/or field trips
Student Presentations & Paper (topic of their choosing)
“Google” search for Nanotechnology Fall ,000,000 sites Fall ,400,000 One year—factor or 4 increase

7. Historically Important Events
1. Richard Feynman “There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom” Dec. 29, 1959
2. Discovery of C60—“Bucky Balls”
3. Associated discovery of Carbon Nanotubes
4. Dramatic Improvement in High Powered Microscopes

8. Feynman’s Paper
There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom--An Invitation to Enter a New Field of Physics
by Richard P. Feynman
American Physical Society Mtg – Caltech
Dec. 29, 1959

9. Feynman’s Genius Challenges Store 1 bit -- 100 atoms
1015 bits (collections of all the world’s libraries) on 1/200 inch cube
Improve microscopes by a factor of 100 to read the genetic code in DNA
From perspective of 50 years
1 terabyte hard drive - $65.
125 needed to store 1015 bits
STEM (Brookhaven Nat’l Lab) x magnification in 1959

10. 1985 Discovery of C60 (Bucky Balls) Buckminster Fullerene
Richard Smalley, Robert Curl, Sir Harold Kroto
1996 Nobel Prize in Chemistry

11. Carbon Nanotubes
Young’s Modulus – 1 terapascal
Tensile Strength gigapascals Stongest & Stiffest known

13. Improved Microscopes (Resolving Power)
Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) nm
Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) nm
Scanning Tunneling Micro (STM) <1 nm
Transmission Electron Micro. (TEM) nm
Scanning Transmission Electron (STEM) <.05 nm Microscope

14. Applications 1. Gold Nanoshells and Gold Nanoparticles
2. Light Emitting Diodes
3. Liquid Crystal Displays
4. Photovoltaic Cells
5. Silicon Integrated Circuits (Chip Fabrication)

15. Gold Nanoshells Gold Nanoparticles
Illustrates: 1. Change in color with particle size 2. Simple chemical reactions to form nanoparticles 3. Color change with agglomeration 4. SEM view of gold nanoparticles.

16. Colloidal Gold Gold Nanoshells
Colloidal gold on the left – Gold nanoshells tuned to absorb different wavelengths of light (6 vials on the right)

17. Light Emitting Diodes (LED’s)
Ubiquitous (< 1/10 power of incandescents) Electronic lights/signals Traffic Semaphore Signals Flat-screen TV and Computer Displays Decorative Lighting (e.g. Christmas lights)

18. Semiconductor Band Gap Energy
Essential to Understanding
Light Emitting Diodes
Photovoltaic Cells

19. Semiconductor Band Gap

20. Light Emitting Diodes

21. LED Laboratory Exercise

22. Liquid Crystal Displays
Illustrates:
Wave character of light and the use of polarized light
Ability of Ordered Liquid Crystals and Inability of disordered Liquid Crystals to rotate the plane of polarized light
Liquid crystals disordered by
a) Voltage
b) Heat
c) Pressure

23. Liquid Crystal Display
Disordered Liquid Crystal
Plane of polarized light not rotated.
Ordered Liquid Crystal
Rotates plane of polarized light

24. Altered Liquid Crystal Display (Top & Bottom Polarizer Aligned)

25. Photovoltaics (Solar Cells)
Illustrates:
The particulate character of light
Band Gap of Different Semiconductors
Solar Spectrum

26. Semiconductor Band Gap

28. “Sandwich” Solar Cell

29. Rooftop Solar Panels

30. dc to ac convertor (before installation of panel)

31. Power Output – Typical Day

32. Silicon Integrated Circuits
Illustrates a remarkable success of Nanotechnology Moore’s Law: Number of devices on a silicon chip doubles every 2 years

34. Silicon MOSFET Fabrication

35. Capstone Assignment
1. Each student must select a Nanotechnological Topic of Interest to Him/Her
2. Make a minute Oral Presentation to the Class
3. Submit a 10-page Written Report

36. Examples of Topics (2009-2010 Academic Year)
The Effect of Nanotechnology in Modern Warfare
The Manufacture and Use of Carbon Nanotubes
Nanotechnology in the Treatment of Cancer and other Diseases
Nanotechnology in “Motes” or Mini-Computers
Nanotechnology in Clothing—Self Cleaning and Water-Repellent Clothes
Business Investments & Public Policy Concerning Nanotechnology
Photo-Voltaic or Solar Cells
Nano Foods

37. Papers Attached (with permission of the authors)
“Materials – Gecko Tape” by Ryan Ramsey
“Military Applications of Nanotechnology” by Chris Brown
“Nanotechnology and its Uses Towards Disabilities” by Jason Anderson
“Nanotechnology-- Policy and Fears” by Joshua Allred

38. Compact Disc 1. Power Point Lectures 2. Laboratory Exercises
3. Titles of Textbooks
4. Students’ Papers
5. This Power Point File
6. Text of this Paper
Other Resources