What is Nano?

Nanoscience is the study of objects measured in

nanometers
1-billionth of a meter
~80,000 times smaller than the diameter of a single human hair
New properties emerge at the nanoscale
Size and shape matter

Closer Look at a Human

Hair

Width of this line is 100 nm

http://www.aber.ac.uk/bioimage/image/uwbl-

What Is A Nanometer?
Hair
100 m

Penny
2 cm

(m)10-2 10-3
cm mm

10-4

10-5

10-6

10-7

Raindrop
1 mm
Red Blood Cell
5 m

10-8

10-9
nm

Interdisciplinary
Nanoscience
Physics

Chemistr
y

Biology
Mol. Bio.
Medicine

Molecular Self.
Assembly NanoEnergy materials
Functional
Nanomaterials
Nanomedicine
Nanobiotechnology
Nanoelectronics
Nano-photonics
Nano-Food
Nano-Toxicology

NanoSynthesis
Nano Tools
Modelling

Size Matters

Its not just how big you

are

Its what you can do with it

Everything changes at the nanoscale

PhysicalProperty
Mechanical strength, toughness

Uses

high strength, low weight

composites

Chemical

Thermal

bonding, reactivity
chemical and biological
receptors or sensors
insulators, conductors
high temperature or
high power applications

Electrical

conductivity, ductility

Optical

absorption, reflectivity
high bandwidth fibers
or waveguides

microelectronics

Synthetic Approach of
Nanomaterials
Top Down1 km
Method
Method

Physical
Physical
Bulk
Bulkmetal
metal

Subdivision
Subdivision

Nanoparticle
Nanoparticle

1m

1 mm

Chemical
Metal Atom

1 m

Method
Aggregation

Nanoparticle

Bottom Up
1 nm
8

APPLICATIONS
Super fast/small
computers
Super strong
materials
Super Slippery
Materials
Tissue Engineering
Drug Delivery
Sensors
Sunscreens
Diagnostics
Automobile Converters
Self-Cleaning Windows

Burn and wound dressings

Water filtration
Catalysis
A dental-bonding agent
Step assists on vans.
Coatings for easier cleaning glass
Bumpers and catalytic converters
on cars
Protective and glare-reducing
coatings for eyeglasses and cars
Longer-lasting tennis balls.
Light-weight, stronger tennis
racquets.
Stain-free clothing and mattresses.
Ink.

Sporting Goods

Cosmetics, Clothes and Food

The Road Towards

Nanotechnology

Norman Poire, Merrill

Lynch

Nanoscience in Nature
Mother Nature
Mankind has always found inspiration
in
Mother Nature.
Today developing
technologies allow us to probe and
better understand the nanoscience of
Mother Nature.

Why Dont Water Striders Get

Wet?
The microhairs on their feet are nanogroovy !

Microhairs

Nanogrooves on
microhairs

Sticky Spider
Toes
Water strider toes help keep it dry, but this spiders toes help make
him sticky!
These are the single hairs (setae) that make
up the tuft of hair on the bottom of a jumping
spiders foot.

This picture, magnified 8750x, shows the

very dense nanosized setules on the
underside of just one of those many seta
(hairs) shown in the picture above.

How
sticky?

ne dime-sized spot could lift a child weighing 45 poun

Adhesive force in one

foot = 100 newtons
500,000 hairs per toe
Hundreds of
nanoprojections (spatulae)
per hair

Lots of nanotoes!
Beetles and flies also have nanostructures that help them stick to walls,
ceilings and what appear to be smooth surfaces.

http://shasta.mpi-stuttgart.mpg.de/research/Bio-tribology.htm

Nature uses Light on the Nanoscale

Could Color Be Nanoscopic?

The colors of beetle and butterfly wings

come from the scattering of light.
Light hits the nanostructures on their scales.
These nanostructures are typically smaller
than the wavelengths of visible light

http://pubs.acs.org/cen/critter/butterfly.html

These nanostructures
dont just make me
pretty. They also
keep me clean by
shedding water and
dirt!

Color Can Be Iridescent,

Too!

Thin films are made of nanoparticles, smaller

than 400 nanometers, that produce iridescent
(rainbow-like) colors when light strikes them.
Iridescent colors change when you look at the
object from different angles.
http://acept.la.asu.edu/PiN/rdg/interfere/interfere.shtml
http://www.ptfe.gatech.edu/faculty/mohan/MSLAB-research-nanobioopt
ics.htm

Jellyfish
Lights
A jellyfish-type
invertebrate, called a
siphonophore, uses red
bioluminescent lures
created at the nanoscale
to attract prey.

http://www.coml.org/medres/high2005/highlightimages.h
tm

Hippo Sweat
Nanoscience?
Hippo sweat contains
compounds that absorb
light in the range of 200
600 nanometers. This
compound protects the
hippos skin like
sunscreen.

One of the compounds in hippo sweat,

hipposudoric acid, inhibits bacterial growth and
is hydrophilic, too. Can you think of ways the
http://pubs.acs.org/cen/news/8222/8222notw9.html
hippo benefits from
these properties?