The principles of physics, as far as I can see, do not speak against the possibility of maneuvering

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There is plenty of room at the bottom
The principles of physics, as far as I can see,
do not speak against the possibility of
maneuvering things atom by atom it is
interesting that it would be, in principle
possible for a physicist to synthesize any
chemical substance that the chemist writes down.
Give the orders, and physicist synthesizes it.
How? Put the atoms where the chemist says, and
so you make the substance
Courtesy of the Archives, Caltech
Meso-scale
Richard Feynman Nobel Laureate Caltech, 1959
1 ?m
Top down approach - Lithography
100 nm
10 nm
1 nm
Bottom-up approach - Chemical Synthesis
1 Å
Atomic/Subatomic scale
A.N. Shipway et al., Chemphyschem, 2001
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History of a humankind in a more blunt
perspective
Historic Periods (1 day in our calendar ?30 real
years) Neolithic 9000BC Jan
1 Bronze 3200BC Jul 5 Iron 1200BC Sep
10 (steel) 1850 Dec 27 Silicon 1950 Dec
30 (semiconductors) (10 AM) Synthetic 1990 D
ec 31 (polymers, superconductors,...) (4 PM)
Humans appear on Earth about 230 days ago and
live in caves until early May ! (I fear that
some people still live there now)
?
?
Nanotechnology the last few minutes of December
31st !
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If you want to get more info about nanotechnology
or even get inspiration about possible
applications, check out this special issue of
Scientific American
Some of the applications outlined there may be
rather far fetched, but its okay one never
really knows
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Before we start building these nanomachines or
even start thinking about doing so, we have to
learn about surfaces and surface patterns. Lets
start then
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Promise of nanotechnology (M. Roco, Senior NSF
and government advisor)

• Knowledge base better comprehension of nature,
  life
• A new world of products 1 trillion / year in
  10-15 years
• Materials beyond what chemistry can do
  340B/y in 10 years for materials and
  processingElectronics in 10-15 years 300B/y
  for semiconductor industry, times more for
  global integrated circuits Pharmaceuticals in
  10-15 years about half of production will depend
  on nanotechnology, affecting about 180 B/y
  Chemical plants in 10-15 years nanostructured
  catalysts in petroleum and chemical processing,
  about 100B/y Aerospace (about 70B/y in 10
  years, estimation by industry group)
• Would require worldwide 2 million nanotech
  workers
• Improved healthcare extend life-span, its
  quality, human physical capabilities ( 31B in
  tools for healthcare in 10 years)
• Sustainability agriculture, water, energy
  (45B/y in 10 years), materials, environment
  ex lighting energy reduction 10 or 100B/y

Ref Societal Implications of Nanoscience and
Nanotechnology, Kluwer, 2001, pp. 3-4.
M.C. Roco, NSF, 05/23/02
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Areas that already see (or could do so shortly)
of commercial applications of nanotechnology
NANOTECH The Tiny Revolution 2001-2002 CMP
Cientifica
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Do ChEM-ies fit into the NANO-world?
Absolutely YES. Many new great opportunities
exist for growth, development, and progress in
traditional areas NANO!
Traditional Chemical Engineering morphed into
many new fields And it pays off! Graduates
with B.S in Chemical Engineering (universal
engineers) are the highest paid engineers in the
US (starting 56K annually)
Wheel of fortune!
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Nanotechnology research in Chemical
Biomolecular Engineering
Participating faculty Ruben Carbonell (photoresis
ts, bioseparations, coatings) Joe
DeSimone (processing in sc-CO2, patterning) Jan
Genzer (polymers at interfaces, assembly,
theory) Christine Grant (surface cleaning, QCM
techniques) Keith Gubbins (transport in porous
media) Carol Hall (pattern recognition, protein
aggregation) Saad Khan (polymer rheology,
associative polymers) Peter Kilpatrick (colloida
l science and bio-assembly) Henry
Lamb (catalysis, electronic materials) Greg
Parsons (molecular electronics, solar
energy) Rich Spontak (polymer morphology,
processing, blends) Orlin Velev (nanodevice
fabrication, colloidal science) John van
Zanten (colloidal macromolecular physics)
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nanotopics of interest in NCSUs CBE
Bio-colloids
Microfluidics
Bulk surface assembly
Energy harvesting
Electronic materials
Combinatorial research
Biointerfaces
Chemical pattern recognition
Organic/inorganic nanocomposites
Computer simulations vs. experiment
Chemical topographical control of surfaces
Molecular transportation
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Self-organizing systems Block and graft
copolymers Functionalized polymers Asphaltenic
aggregates Nanoparticles Patterning Interfacial
modification Self-assembly and forced
assembly Combinatorial polymer-grafted
surfaces Hierarchical dewetting and
stabilization Nanocomposites nanoporous
media Nanofiller-induced physical
gelation Controlled nanoparticle
growth Adsorption phenomena separations Nanopart
icle assemblies Novel materials
processing Cryomechanical alloying Polymerizations
in scCO2 Thin-film foaming in scCO2 Electric
field-induced material organization
2 mm
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Nanoscience option _at_ NCSUs CBE
For students who wish to develop expertise in the
technology associated with nanoelectronics,
nanotechnology, and functional nanomaterials
In addition to the core CHE courses, the
nanoscience option includes

• Chemical Processing of Electronic Materials
• Colloid Surface Science
• Polymeric Nanomaterials

CHE/MSE 455 Polymer Technology and Engineering 
CHE 460 Chemical Properties of Electronic
Materials           CHE 461 Polymer Science and
Technology CHE 462 Colloid Science and Nanoscale
Engineering CHE 467 Rheology CHE 597D Colloidal
and Macromolecular Physics            CHE
597J Polymers at Interfaces and in Confined
Geometries ECE 331 Principles of Electrical
Engineering                         CH
795M Special Topics in Chemistry MSE 425
Polymer Science Technology MSE 331 Electronic
Properties of Materials MSE 460 Microelectronic
Materials PY 407 Intro to Modern Physics
         
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Nanoscience option _at_ NCSUs CBE
Special topics in nanoscience (ChE-596D)

• taught by 3 instructors (CBE)
• modular course (3 modules 5 week each)
• include lectures, lab, literature
  discussion/analysis
• tailorable (topics chosen by students before
  the semester)
• look at (http//courses.ncsu.edu/che596d/lec/005/
  ) for Spring 2007

Nanoscience lab (ChE-331N)

• currently in preparation
• labs organized by dimensionality
• 0D nanoparticles 1D nanofibers 2D
  nanofilms, 3D nanofluidics
• expected to be opened campus-wide