In the name of ALLAH, the most Gracious, the Most Merciful

MSE – 856
Nano Materials & Processing
Course Instructor: Dr. Amna Safdar
 Classification of Nanomaterials
Nanomaterials as those which have structured components with at-least one dimension less than
100 nm.
One dimension in nanoscale (Other two dimensions are extended)
Thin films
Surface Coatings
Computer chips
Two dimensions in nanoscale (Other one dimension is extended)
Nanowires
Nanotubes
Three dimensions in nanoscale
Nanoparticles
Precipitates
Colloids
Quantum dots (tiny particles of semiconductor material)
Nanocrystalline materials

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Why are nanoparticles important?

• Engineering the size, shape, and composition of the particles.

• New nanocomposite materials with enhanced or entirely different properties from their
parent materials.

With the inclusion of appropriately selected nanoparticles:

• metals can be made stronger and harder
• ceramics can have enhanced toughness and formability
• insulating materials can be made to conduct heat or
electricity
• protective coatings can become transparent

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 Extension of
Lithography
Classification of
Top-down Nanomaterials
Approach

Why
Nanomaterials?
Miniaturization

Nanoprocessing Moore’s Law Nanomaterials

Why
Approaches Nanofabrication Nanofabrication?

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Classification of Nanomaterials
Classification is based on the number of dimensions, which are not confined
to the nanoscale range (<100 nm)

Zero-dimensional (0-D),
One-dimensional(1-D),
Two-dimensional (2-D),
Three-dimensional (3-D).

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Zero-Dimensional Nanostructures
Materials wherein all the dimensions are measured within the
nanoscale (no dimensions, or 0-D, are larger than 100 nm).
The most common representation of zero-dimensional
nanomaterials are nanoparticles.

• Be amorphous or crystalline
• Be single crystalline or polycrystalline
• Be composed of single or multi-chemical elements
• Exhibit various shapes and forms
• Exist individually or incorporated in a matrix
• Be metallic, ceramic, or polymeric

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Quantum Dot

• Also referred to as spherical nanoparticles, nanocrystals etc.

• Properties based on the optical features of their absorption and emission spectra.

Semiconductor nanostructure Why?

An ‘artificial’ atom 2-10 nm (10-50 atoms) up to 100-100000 nm Compare with

quantum wire and well (confined in two and one DIRECTION) Size controls band gap.

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How?

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Electronic structure of QDots

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Size and material dependent optical properties

Material band-gap determines the emission range; particle size tunes the emission within the range

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 Zero-Dimensional Nanostructures-Growth

Top-down And Bottom-up Approaches

Shear, Impact and Compression

Mechanical methods
Mixing , Blending and size-reduction
Milling Or Attrition

Milling/Attrition – Nanoparticles
• have a relatively broad size distribution
• have varied particle shape or geometry
• may contain a significant number of impurities from the milling medium
• may contain defects resulting from milling
• used in the fabrication of nanocomposites and nanograined bulk materials
• In nanocomposites and nanograined bulk materials, defects may be annealed
during sintering

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Vibrating mill Planetary mill

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 Top 5 product-specific milling technologies used in industrial
applications

Air classifying mill for high-quality carbon black Pin mills for spice production

Hosokawa Micron International Inc.

Jet milling for tungsten carbide Ball mills for super-fine calcium carbonate
https://www.processingmagazine.com/mixing-blending-
size-reduction/article/15587098/top-5-productspecific- Hammer & screen mill for finely ground pigments
milling-technologies-used-in-industrial-applications
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Zero-Dimensional Nanostructures-Growth
Top-down And Bottom-up Approaches

• Repeated thermal cycling may also break a bulk material into small pieces

– Repeated thermal cycling may also break a bulk material into small
pieces, if the material has very small thermal conductivity but a large
volume change as a function of temperature.
– Fine particles can be produced
– The process is difficult to design and control so as to produce desired
particle size and shape

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Using Lithography

Limitations:
• Gaseous Impurities
• Surface Damages

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 Requirements of Nanoparticles-Need for Bottom up Approach

1. identical size of all particles (monosized or with uniform

size distribution),
2. identical shape or morphology,
3. identical chemical composition and crystal structure
among different particles and within individual particles,
such as core and surface composition much be the same,
4. individually dispersed

If the nanoparticles are single crystalline, they are often referred to as

nanocrystals. When the characteristic dimension of the nanoparticles is
sufficiently small and quantum effects are observed, quantum dots are the
common term used to describe such nanoparticles.

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 Methods for creating nanostructures
• Sol-gel process

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 Methods for creating nanostructures

• Gas Phase ( furnace )

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 Synthesis Methods—bottom up

1. Thermodynamic Equilibrium Approach:

a. generation of supersaturation,
b. nucleation,
c. subsequent growth.
2. Kinetic approach:
a. microemulsion, aerosol pyrolysis, template based
deposition

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