Materials for Nanotechnology - Chris Kiely SPRING 2004

1. Introduction to the nanoworld; some nano-terminology and definitions: Classification scheme for nanomaterials: Top-down versus bottom-up manufacturing.

2. Seeing the nanoworld with transmission electron microscopy; imaging nanomaterials, diffraction from nanostructures, probing nanochemistry with STEM-XEDS and EELS.

3. Probing nanosurfaces; scanning tunneling microscopy, atomic force microscopy; using the STM for atom manipulation and nanofabrication; Case studies including the millipede memory.

4. Carbon as a nanomaterial; review of the bonding and properties of diamond, graphite and carbon blacks/

5. Fullerenes; synthesis methods; geometry and properties of buckyballs, higher fullerenes and buckyonions. Properties, chemical reactivity and applications of C₆₀ thin films and fullerite crystals. Doping of fullerenes. Fullerides.

6. Carbon nanotubes; synthesis methods; geometric aspects of nanotubes. Armchair, zigzag and chiral nanotubes. Mechanical, thermal and electronic properties of nanotubes. Carbon nanotubes for nanoelectronics, field emission sources, gas storage.

7. Metal clusters; preparation methods; magic numbers, stability.

8. Metal nanoparticles- preparation; wet chemical synthesis routes; hydrosols and organosols; stabilization mechanisms; cluster compounds; monolayer protected nanoparticles; phase transfer methods; reverse micelles; electrochemical methods; core-shell nanoparticles.

9. Self-assembly of nanoparticles; definition, driving forces, solvent evaporation methods; 2-D rafts and 3-D supercrystals, particle shape effects, ordered bimodal crystals, nanoalloys, designer interfaces.

10. Directed self-assembly of nanoparticles; self-assembed monolayers , thiol and silane monolayers; nanostamping, dip-pen lithography; Langmuir-Blodgett films: topological substrate patterning, hydrophobic/hydrophilic substrate patterning; DNA directed self-assembly.

11. Thermal and chemical properties of metal nanoparticles; size- dependant melting; surface area and chemical reactivity, surface active sites; supported metal nanoparticles as catalysts; Case studies; Au for low temperature CO oxidation; three-way automotive catalyst.

12. Electronic properties of metal nanoparticles; the Kubo gap, effect of size and temperature on the metal-insulator transition of isolated nanoparticles; the capacitance and charging energy of metal nanoparticles; Coulomb blockade effects and the single electron transistor; Collective electronic properties of nanoparticle assemblies, electron hopping versus interparticle tunneling; Nanosensors, pressure and chemical sensors, nanonoses.

13. Optical properties of metal nanoparticles: optical absorption and transmission through metal sols and thin films; Rayleigh scattering, Mie theory, surface plasmon resonances; effect of particle size and shape on colour.

14. Magnetic properties of metal nanoparticles: ferromagnetism and superparamagnetism, exchange energy and relaxation time; size-dependant saturation magnetization and coercive fields; future implications for magnetic recording media; targeted drug delivery and therapies based on magnetic nanparticles.

15. Metal nanowires: fabrication strategies, conventional lithography versus self assembly; quantum conductance effects in metal nanowires.

16. Semiconductor nanoparticles- fabrication; Cluster compounds, quantum-dots from MBE and CVD, wet chemical methods, reverse micelles, electrodeposition, pyrolytic synthesis; self-assembly strategies.

17. Semiconductor nanoparticles- size–dependant physical properties; melting point, solid-state phase transformations; excitons ; band-gap variations-quantum confinement, effect of strain on band-gap in epitaxial quantum dots; single particle conductance.

18. Semiconductor nanoparticles – applications; optical luminesce and fluorescence from direct, bandgap semiconductor nanoparticles, surface-trap passivation in core-shell nanoparticles, carrier injection, polymer-nanoparticle LED’s and solar cells, electroluminescence; barriers to nanoparticle lasers; doping nanoparticles, Mn-ZnSe phosphors; light emission from indirect semiconductors, light emission form Si nanodots.

19. Semiconductor nanowires; fabrication strategies; quantum conductance effects in semiconductor nanowires; porous Si, nanobelts.

20. Inorganic nanoparticles- fabrication; oxidation of metal clusters, vapour phase decomposition, sol-gel processing, colloidal methods, consolidated ceramic nanoparticles.

21. Inorganic nanoparticles- size-dependant properties; effect of ionicity or covalency on melting point, solubility; quantum confinement effects on bandgap, point defect populations in ionic conductors.

22. Inorganic nanoparticles – applications; Case studies; TiO₂ – photocatalysis, the Gratzel solar cell, opaque-transparent transition in sunscreens; ZnO; sunscreens, pigments, varistors.

23. Nanoporous inorganic materials; natural minerals, zeolites and pillared clays, surfactant templated MCM materials, anodic dissolution of alumina; applications as catalyst hosts and molecular sieves.