Syllabus

IMS 320: Nanoscale Science and Engineering

Course Syllabus – Fall 2008

Course Description

This course presents fundamental nanoscience topics embedded within chemistry and physics and examines present and future applications in nanotechnology. Topics specifically addressed include methods for characterizing and fabricating nanomaterials, the attainment of special properties at the nanoscale, energetic considerations associated with nanomaterials, synthesis and chemical modification of nanomaterials, types of chemical bonding available to nanomaterials, nanomaterials present in nature, and societal implications of nanotechnology.

Classes
MWF 10:10-11:00 am; FGH 244

Instructor
Robert Geil
Stevenson Center 6217D
r.geil@vanderbilt.edu
Office phone: 343-6721
Office hours: By appointment via email or just drop by
WWW: http://ims320vanderbilt.wordpress.com

Textbook

Introduction to Nanoscience, G. L. Hornyak, J. Dutta, H. F. Tibbals and A. K. Rao; CRC Press, New York: 2008.

Supplementary Texts

Nanoscale Science and Technology, R. Kelsall, I. Hamley, and M. Geoghegan; Wiley, New York: 2005.

Fundamentals of Microfabrication, M. J. Madou; CRC Press, New York: 2002.

Nanomaterials Chemistry, C. N. R. Rao, A. Muller, A. K. Cheetham; Wiley, New York: 2007.

Nanophysics and Nanotechnology, E. L. Wolf; Wiley, New York: 2004.
Introduction to Nanoelectronics, V. V. Mitin, V. A. Kochelap, M. A. Stroscio; Cambridge University Press, Cambridge: 2008.

Grading

Journal reviews: 20%
Tests (x2): 40%
Final paper: 40%

Topics Covered

1. Materials, structure, and the nanosurface (Ch. 5, Hornyak)
2. Energy at the nanoscale (Ch. 6, Hornyak)
3. Quantum phenomena (Ch. 7, Hornyak)
4. Nanothermodynamics (Ch. 8, Hornyak)
5. Chemical interactions at the nanoscale (Ch 10, Hornyak)
6. Characterization methods (Ch. 3, Hornyak)
7. Fabrication methods (Ch. 4, Hornyak)
8. Carbon-based nanomaterials (Ch. 9, Hornyak)
9. Supramolecular chemistry (Ch. 11, Hornyak)
10. Chemical synthesis and modification of nanomaterials (Ch. 12, Hornyak)
11. Plasmonics in nanostructured materials, lectures by Richard Haglund
12. Nano- and molecular-scale electronics (Mitin and Rao)
13. Nano electro-mechanical structures (Madou)
14. Natural nanomaterials and biomimetics (Ch. 13, Hornyak)
15. Societal implications

Important Dates

Aug. 25 First day of class
Sept. 3 Meet in Science Library classroom
Sept. 12 No class
Sept. 15 Journal review #1 due
Oct. 3 Journal review #2 due
Oct. 6-10  Lectures on Plasmonics by Professor Richard Haglund
Oct. 17 Exam 1
Oct 20 No class – Fall Break
Oct. 31 Journal review #3 due
Nov. 21 Journal review #4 due
Nov. 24-28 No class – Thanksgiving Break
Dec. 8 Exam 2
Dec. 18 Final project due

Journal reviews

Four journal reviews will be due throughout the semester. Find a paper recently published in a scholarly journal and post a review of the article under the subject of “Journal Reviews” on the course web page. The paper’s topic should be based on the nanoscience concepts recently covered in class. The review should address the following: 1) purpose of the study; 2) methods/procedures used; 3) key findings and major points. The length of the review should be no longer than the equivalent of half of a single spaced page (~250 words). The purpose of the article is to tie the nanoscience concepts covered in class to current or recent progress in nanotechnology and to expose you to additional nanotechnology material not covered in class. See the course schedule for due dates. Grades of √, √- or zero will be given to the assignments.

Final project

The final project contains two parts: a paper portion and a PowerPoint presentation portion.  In this project you are essentially designing a lecture that covers a nanotechnology and/or nanoscience topic from the list below, or a topic of your choosing.  The purpose of the paper is to provide explanations and details of the presentation slides.  But, the paper should tell a story and not simply catalogue the slides one by one.  The presentation should have the quality of work that you would be willing to present to a class (although, you won’t have to).

Paper details
•    5-10 pages double spaced (not including figures, images, tables, etc.)
•    Use at least 10 references, which may include journal articles, textbooks, news articles, web sites, etc.  Be sure to include a bibliography.  For web references you may simply use the web address.
•    Publication dates for the main topic should be recent (~ <10 years old) but this is not a rigid guideline as motivating the topic may require references to older publications.  The main idea is that the topic you are presenting is not so old that it could be considered irrelevant or obsolete.

Presentation details
•    10-15 slides
•    If you hate Microsoft, at least use a format that can be imported into PPT
•    For every picture used, provide the web address from which you obtained the image

Below is a list of broad topics to choose from. These topics are very broad, so you may choose a more specific topic with in the given topic. You might notice that many of these topic are chapter titles taken directly from some of the course texts listed on the syllabus, which may be a good place to start.

•    Nanofluidics
•    Semiconductor nanostructures
•    Nanoparticles, nanocrystals, etc.
•    Self-assembly of materials and devices
•    Physical processes in semiconductor nanostructures
•    Nanomagnetic materials and devices
•    Thermodynamics at the nanoscale
•    Electronics and electro-optic molecular materials and devices
•    Biomolecular Nanoscience
•    Biomimetic nanotechnology
•    Chemical Synthesis and modification of nanomaterials
•    Supramolecular Chemistry
•    Molecule-based devices
•    Nanowires
•    Theraputic nanodevices
•    Friction and wear at the nano and atomic scale
•    Molecular films for lubrication
•    Nanotechnology for data storage applications
•    Molecular electronics
•    Photonic materials, structures, and devices

Submitting the project
I expect the files to be large, so please DO NOT email them to my Vanderbilt account. Instead, you may do any of the following:

•    Personally bring me the files via CD or thumbdrive
•    Post the file to the course blog – however, this implies that others can see your work
•    Post them to your own site from which I can download

Here are instructions for posting your final project to the blog.
1.    Start a new blog entry
2.    Press the Add Media button just above.  It looks like a little sun
3.    Press “Choose file to upload”
4.    Browse your computer for the file and click Open
5.    The file is uploaded and the window expands
6.    Change the file name if you like
7.    Insert the file into the post by clicking the button titled “Insert into Post”, which is at the bottom of the expanded window
8.    Publish the post