Nanotechnology

Material science is studying the basic and fundamental properties of various material

Backbone of any Technology

Which Materials?
• Metals, Alloys, Polymers, Nanocomposites, Electronic and Semiconductor materials, Glasses, Carbon fibers, Nano Tubes etc.
Which Properties?
• Electrical Properties, electronic, Mechanical properties
• (like strength ductility, Malleability etc.
Corrosion resistance properties. Magnetic Properties etc.)

• Properties of materials are distinctively effected by properties of molecules or group of molecules which are of nanometer
Size.

Nano in real life

NanomaterialsRelationship Cube
Nanoparticles exhibit unique properties due to their high surface area to volume ratio. A spherical particle has a diameter (D) of
100nm. This gives an approximate surface area to volume ratio of >107:1 which is significantly larger than a macro sized
particle.

Natural Nanomaterials

Lab-based Nanomaterials
• Fullerenes
o Carbon molecule in the form of a hollow sphere, ellipsoid, tube
o Carbon Nanotubes
o Graphene
Allotrope of carbon in the form of a 2D, atomic-scale, honey-comb lattice in which one atom forms each vertex.
• Various other Nanomaterials
o Inorganic nanomaterials, (quantum dots,
nanowires and nanorods)
o TiO2, SiO2 etc

Conversion of energy

Nanogenerator
Conversion of kinetic/mechanical/thermal energy as produced by small-scale physical change into electricity.
• Piezoelectric (external kinetic energy into an electrical energy based on the energy conversion by nano structured piezoelectric
material)

• Pyroelectric (time-dependent thermal fluctuation to thermal)

• Triboelectric (external mechanical energy into electricity by a conjunction of the triboelectric effect and electrostatic induction)
Triboelectric effect
• Certain materials become electrically charged after they come into frictive
contact with a different material.
o Rubbing glass with fur, or a comb through the hair
• Most everyday static electricity is triboelectric.
• Depends on materials, surface roughness, temperature, strain, and
other properties.
• Aircraft flying in cold weather will develop a static charge from air friction on the airframe. Discharged with static dischargers
or static wicks.

Electrostatic induction
•
Redistribution of electrical charge caused by the influence of nearby charges.
• In the presence of a charged body, an insulated conductor develops a positive charge on one end and a the negative charge on
the other end.
• Due to induction, electrostatic potential is constant at any point throughout a conductor.
• Induction is also responsible for the attraction of light nonconductive
objects, such as balloons, paper or styrofoam scraps, to static electric charges.

3. TENG : Inception and Fabrication

TENG - Discovery
• Invented by Prof. Zhong Lin Wang's group at Georgia Tech in 2012.
• Inner circuit
o a potential is created by the triboelectric effect
o due to the charge transfer between two thin organic/inorganic films that
exhibit opposite tribo-polarity
• Outer circuit o electrons are driven to flow between two electrodes attached on the back sides of the films in order to balance
the potential.

TENG – 1

1st Approach 2012

• Stacking two thin polymer films (non-uniform surfaces

100nm)
• Two short edges sealed with ordinary adhesive tape
• Top and bottom surfaces sputtered with a 100nm Au alloy
o Producing equal but opposite sign mobile charges via the electrostatic induction of the tribology
o Serving as common electrodes for directly connecting the device with an external circuit
• 4.5X1.2cm2
• Kapton (125
m)
• PET (220 m)
TENG – Vertical sliding mode

TENG – Lateral sliding mode

TENG : Case Studies

TENG APPLICATION DIAGRAMS

Material Choice for TENG

Materials choices for TENG are huge. However, the ability of a material for gaining/losing electron depends on its polarity.
• Morphologies of the surfaces can be modified by physical techniques to enhancing the contact area and possibly
the triboelectrification.
• Surfaces of the materials can be functionalized chemically using various molecules, nanotubes, nanowires or nanoparticles
• Besides these pure materials, the contact materials can be made of composites, such embedding nanoparticles in polymer
matrix.
• Therefore, there are numerous ways for enhancing the performance of the TENG from the materials point of view.

TENG ROAD MAP

 TENG: Diverse applications

TENGs as sustainable power sources and active sensors

4. Laser Induced Graphene

•
Nanotechnology fundamentals
• Types of Nanomaterials
• MEMS Application – TENG
• Laser Induced Graphene
• Automated Nanomaterial Synthesis

• An allotrope of carbon
• Form of a single layer of atoms in a 2D hexagonal lattice in which one atom forms each vertex.
• An indefinitely large aromatic molecule
• “Graphite" + “ene” [Hanns-Peter

Boehm who described single- layer carbon foils in 1962]

Graphene

• Geim and Novoselov received 2010 Nobel Prize in Physics.

• Nobel announcement 1 m2 graphene hammock would
support a 4 kg cat but would weigh only 0.77 mg
 Graphene Synthesis Method

Commonly Used Methods

• Exfoliation – Low throughout,
Non-uniform
• Hummer’s Method – Solution
Processed Method
• CVD – Incompatible with Flexible Substrate, Transfer process, E-
beam lithography to define contacts Laser Induced Graphene
• Solvent Free, large area, highly flexible, Low-cost, Mask less patterning
• Ideal for many applications – Flexible & Wearable Electronics, Sensors, Energy Harvesting Devices

Laser Induced Flexible Graphene (LIFE)

LIFE: Characterizations
Laser Induced Graphene (LIG) in EBFC
Laser Induced Graphene (LIG) in EBFC

Laser Induced Graphene (LIG) in EBFC

LIG based Microchannel and Electrodes
On-site taste monitoring is important for human health, and widespread adoption requires low-cost, easy-to-fabricate technology
and very precise portable equipment. The portability and high sensitivity of the device are regulated by the electrode
configuration and, in turn, the fabrication techniques employed.

In this context, herein, sensitive and specific electrical detection of five human gustative sensory tastes leveraging unique
properties of graphene to realize optimized electrodes is presented. H

erein, first, a Microfluidic device with integrated microchannel and Interdigitated electrodes (IDEs), based on a capacitive
sensing mechanism, was prepared by the laser-induced graphene (LIG) technique. Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy
(EIS) characterized the performance of the LIG-IDE microfluidic device. Under microfluidic conditions, the impedance change
was linearly varying for the concentration of different chemicals in the range of 1–1000 ppm, and a minimum detection limit of 1
ppm was obtained. A comparison of the differences in capacitive response by LIG-IDE sensor for the five chemicals related to
various tastes was also performed at different concentrations with respective real samples.

This microfluidic taste sensor has the potential to provide low-cost, simple-to-integrate multi-functional point-of-care sensors for
human sensory tastes, clinical, and environmental applications.

Despite the advantages of flexible sensors, their discontinuous behavior during detection at very low frequencies is one of the
disadvantages, which causes them to operate on a higher frequency region, increasing frequency bandwidth.
LIG based Micro-Devices

LIG is a simple method to create conductive (possibly

graphene) layers
• LIG can be optimized by varying laser power, speed and optics
• Various characterizations (SEM, EDX, Raman, XPS) should be done
• Applications (Touchpad, Liquid Level Sensor, H2O2 Sensor)
• Used as Bioelectrodes for Fuel Cell
• Multi-layered Electro-Microfluidic (EMF) device with microchannel and integrated electrodes has been developed
• Applications Electrochemical sensing, fuel cell and
impedance based interdigitated microelectrodes.
• Uric Acid sensing LOD of 0.61μM.
• The maximum power density obtained by LIG based microfluidic
fuel cell was 3.027 nW/cm2.

MnO2 Nanomaterials Synthesis

ZnONanomaterials Synthesis
NiOand CuONanoPSynthesis
Characterization of AuNPs
Raman scattering of AgNPs

Surface enhanced Raman scattering for crystal violet 1 μmol L−1

• AgNPs enhances the Raman scattering