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SCHOOL OF BIO AND CHEMICAL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT OF BIOTECHNOLOGY UNIT – I - Nanobiotechnology – SBT1307 1 NANOTECHNOLOGY Introduction The prefix nano in the word nanotechnology means a billionth (1x10 -9). Nanotechnology deals with various structu...

SCHOOL OF BIO AND CHEMICAL ENGINEERING DEPARTMENT OF BIOTECHNOLOGY UNIT – I - Nanobiotechnology – SBT1307 1 NANOTECHNOLOGY Introduction The prefix nano in the word nanotechnology means a billionth (1x10 -9). Nanotechnology deals with various structures of matter having dimensions of the order of billionth of a meter. While the word nanotechnology is relatively new, the existence of functional devices and structures of nanometer dimensions is not new, and in fact such structures have existed on Earth as long as life itself. The abalone, a mollusk, constructs very strong shells having irrridescent inner surface by organizing calcium carbonate into strong nanostrucutred bricks held together by a glue made of a carbohydrate-protein mix. Cracks initiated on the outside are unable to move through the shell because of the nanostructured bricks. The shells represent a natural demonstration that a structure fabricated from nanoparticle can be much stronger. Historical Developments  In the fourth-century A.D Roman glassmakers were fabricating glasses containing nanosized metals. An artifact from this period called the Lycurgus cup resides in the British Museum in London. The cup, which depicts the death of King Lycurgus, is made from soda lime glass containing silver and gold nanoparticles. The color of the cup changes from green to deep red when a light source is placed inside it. The great varieties of beautiful colors of the windows of medieval cathedrals are due to the presence of metal nanoparticles in the glass.  Photography is an advanced and mature technology, developed in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, which depends on production of silver nanoparticles sensitive to light. Photographic films is an emulsion, a thin layer of gelatin containing silver halides, such as silver bromide, and a base of transparent cellulose acetate. The light decomposes the silver halides, producing nanoparticles of silver, which are the pixels of the image.  In 1857, Michael Faraday published a paper in the Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society, which attempted to explain how metal particles affect the color of church windows. Gustav Mie was the first to provide an explanation of the dependence of the color of the glasses on metal size and kind. His paper was published in the German Journal Annalen der Physik in 1908. 2  Richard Feynman was awarded the Nobel Prize in physics in 1965 for his contributions to quantum electrodynamics. In 1960 he presented a visionary and prophetic lecture at a meeting of the American Physical Society, entitled “There is Plenty of Room at the Bottom”, where he speculated on the possibility and potential of nanosized materials. He envisioned etching lines a few atoms wide with beams of electrons, effectively predicting the existence of electron-beam lithography, which is used today to make silicon chips. He proposed manipulating individual atoms to make new small structures having very different properties. He envisioned building circuits on the scale of nanometers that can be used as elements in more powerful computers. He also recognized the existence of nanostructures in biological systems. Many of Feynman’s speculations have become reality. However, his thinking did not resonate with scientists at the time.  There were other visionaries. Ralph Landauer, a theoretical physicist working or IBM in 1957, had idea on nanoscale electronics and realized the importance that quantum- mechanical effects would play in such devices. Uhlir reported the first observation of porous silicon in 1956, but it was not until 1990 when room temperature fluorescence was observed in this material that interest grew. Other work in this era involved making alkali metal nanoparticles by vaporizing sodium or potassium metal and then condensing them on cooler materials called substrates. Magnetic fluids called ferrofluids were developed in the 1960s. They consist of nanosized magnetic particles dispersed in liquids. The particles were made by ballmilling in the presence of a surface- active agent and liquid carrier. Another area of activity in the 1960s involved electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) of conduction electrons in metal particles of nanodimensions referred to as colloids. Structural features o metal nanoparticles such as existence of magic numbers were revealed in the 1970s using mass spectroscopic studies of sodium metal beams. Group at Bell Laboratories and IBM fabricated the first two-dimensional quantum wells in the early 1970s. It was not until the 1980s with the emergence of appropriate methods of fabrication of nanostructures that a notable increase in research activity occurred, and a number of significant developments resulted.  In 1981, a method was developed to make metal clusters using a high-powered focused laser to vaporize metals into a hot plasma. In 1985, this method was used to synthesize the fullerene (C60). In 1982, two Russian scientists, Ekimov and Omushchenko, 3  reported the first observation of quantum confinement. The scanning tunneling microscope was developed during this decade by G.K. Bining and H. Roher of the IBM Research Laboratory in Zurich, and they were awarded Nobel Prize in 1986 for this. The invention of the scanning tunneling microscope (STM) and the atomic force microscope (AFM), provided new important tools for viewing, characterizing and atomic manipulation of nanostructures. This period was marked by development of methods of fabrication such as electron-beam lithography, which are capable of producing 10-nm structures. Also in this decade layered alternating metal magnetic and nonmagnetic materials, which displayed the fascinating property of giant magnetoresistance, were fabricated. The layers were a nanometer thick, and the materials have an important application in magnetic storage device in computers.  In the 1990, Iijima made carbon nanotubes, and superconductivity and ferromagnetism were found in C60 structures. Efforts also began to make molecular switches and measure the electrical conductivity of molecules. A field-effect transistor based on carbon nanotubes was demonstrated. The study of self-assembly of molecules on metal surfaces intensified. Self-assembly refers to the spontaneous bonding of molecules to metal surfaces, forming an organized array of molecules on the surface. Self-assembly of thiol and disulfide compounds on gold has been most widely studied.  In 1996, a number of government agencies led by National Science Foundation commissioned a study to assess the current worldwide status of trends, research and development in nanoscience and nanotechnology. Two general findings emerged from the study. The first observation was that materials have been and can be nanostructured for new properties and novel performance. The second observation of the U.S government study was a recognition of the broad range of disciplines that are contributing to developments in the field. These disciplines include physics, chemistry, biology and engineering (electrical, mechanical and chemical engineering). The interdisciplinary nature of the field makes it somewhat difficult for researchers in one field to understand and draw on developments in another area. To explore the potential of nanotechnology it is essential to know what are nanomaterials, how and why do they differ from other materials, how to synthesize/analyze the nanomaterials and organize them to apply in different areas. 4  What is Nanotechnology? Broadly speaking however, nanotechnology is the act of purposefully manipulating matter at the atomic scale, otherwise known as the "nanoscale." Coined as "nano-technology" in a 1974 paper by Norio Taniguchi at the University of Tokyo, and encompassing a multitude of rapidly emerging technologies, based upon the scaling down of existing technologies to the next level of precision and miniaturization. Taniguchi approached nanotechnology from the 'top-down' standpoint, from the viewpoint of a precision engineer. K. Eric Drexler introduced the term "nanotechnology" to the world in 1986, using it to describe a 'bottom-up' approach. Drexler approaches nanotechnology from the point- of-view of a physicist, and defines the term as "large-scale mechanosynthesis based on positional control of chemically reactive molecules." At the nanoscale, the physical, chemical, and biological properties of materials differ in fundamental and valuable ways from the properties of individual atoms and molecules or bulk matter. Nanotechnology R&D is directed toward understanding and creating improved materials, devices, and systems that exploit these new properties.  SIZE : A meter is about the distance from the tip of your nose to the end of your hand (1 meter = 3.28 feet). One thousandth of that is a millimeter. Now take one thousandth of that, and you have a micron: a thousandth of a thousandth of a meter. Put another way: a micron is a millionth of a meter, which is the scale that is relevant to - for instance - building computers, computer memory, and logic devices. Now, let's go smaller, to the nanometer: A nanometer is one thousandth of a micron, and a thousandth of a millionth of a meter (a billionth of a meter). Imagine: one billion nanometers in a meter. 5  Nanoscale features: Nanomaterials are characterised at the nanometre scale in one, two or three dimensions, leading to quantum wells (e.g., thin films, layers, surface coatings), quantum wires (e.g., nanotubes, nanowires) or quantum dots (qdots), respectively. Nanoparticles with a diameter of less