Nanoscale Science and Engineering Center

for
Affordable Nanoengineering of Polymeric Biomedical Devices
(NSEC - CANPBD) 

NSEC Funded by National Science Foundation

Center 51 Faculty, 11 Universities, >50 PhD students

Affordable New, less costly manufacturing techniques

Create, control, and build systems with nanoscale
Nanoengineering components
Plastics can be inexpensive, biocompatible, and
Polymeric recyclable
Biomedical
Exploit nanotechnology to impact human health
Devices

High School Teacher Workshop, June 19, 2009

 Outline

1. What is Nanotechnology?
2. History of Human – based
nanotechnology
3. Nature - an Expert nanotechnologist
4. OSU NSEC
 What is Nanotechnology?
Technology: knowledge of using tools and machines to do
tasks efficiently.

Nano

– Micrometer 1x 10-6 meters

– Nanometer 1 x 10-9 meters (one billionth of a meter)
– Angstroms 1x 10-10 meters
– Width of a human hair 50 micrometers (microns)
– 1 nm is 1/80,000th of a hair width.
1 nm is the width of a DNA molecule

Point of Comparison

– Approx. 1.0 billion meters is the distance between Saturn and

the Earth
 Some Nano-Philosophy

 Who Should Introduce Nanotechnology?

YOU SHOULD!
 Why Introduce Nanotechnology?
Students Like Cutting Edge Topics
 How to Introduce Nanotechnology?
Traditional Topics using New Systems
 Where to Introduce Nanotech?
Chemistry, biology, physical science, math, etc.
 What should be introduced?
Contrast macro and atomic world to nanoworld
 Size Calibration

 Red Blood Cell 10000 nm

 Polio Virus 40 nm
 Nano particles 10-100 nm
 Atoms Cs (0.26 nm) H (0.01 nm)
 Size Calibration (cont)

0.1 1 10 102 103 104 nm

Commercial
magnetic RBC
nanoparticles Bacteria

Proteins
DNA Clq
Cell nucleus
Atoms and ions

Limit of optical
IgG resolution
 History of Nanomaterials

 1974 The word Nanotechnology first coined by Nario

Taniguchi, Univ. of Tokyo --- production technology to
get ultra fine accuracy and precision – 1nm

 1981 IBM invented STM scanning tunneling microscope

which can move single atoms around

 1985 new form of carbon discovered --- C60

buckminister fullerene 60 carbon atoms arranged in a
sphere made of 12 pentagons and 20 hexagons
 History of Nanomaterials
Lycurgus chalice 4th Century A.D.
Appears green in reflected light and
red if light is directed through it (70 nm
particles of silver and gold in the glass)

Lycurgus
Lycurgus cup with
cup with
focused light
diffused
light
 History of Nanomaterials

 1991 carbon nanotubes discovered

“graphitic carbon needles ranging from 4
nm – 30 nm and up to 1 micron in length”
( Sumino Iijima)

 1993 First high quality quantum dots

prepared --- very small particles with
controlled diameters of CdS, CdSe, CdTe
 History of Nanomaterials

 2000 First DNA motor made similar to

motorized tweezers may make computers
1000 more powerful.

DNA motors can be attached

to electrically conducting
molecules – act as basic
switches

Nature 406 (6796) 2000, 605-608.

 History of Nanomaterials

 2001 prototype fuel cell made with

nanotubes

 2002 Nanomaterials make stain repellant

trousers Nano-care khakis have
nanowhiskers (10-100 nm in length)
 Nanometer Scale -
Unknown Behavior

 “Magical Point on Length Scale, for this is the

point where the smallest man-made devices
meet atoms and molecules of the natural world.”
– Eugene Wong, Knight Rider Newspapers, Kansas City Star,
Monday Nov. 8th, 1999

 Just wait, the next century is going to be

incredible. W are about to be able to build
things that work at the smallest possible length
scales, atom by atom . These little nanothings
will revolutionize our industries and our lives.”
– R. Smalley, Congressional Hearings, Summer 1999.
 Unknown Behavior

 Chemistry is study of atoms and

molecules with size less than 1 nm

 Condensed matter Physics deals with an

array of bound atoms or molecules with
dimensions > 100 nm
 Neither quantum chemistry nor classical
laws of Physics hold in 1- 100 nm range
 Size Matters

 Properties depend on size

– Magnetic properties
– Optical Properties
– Melting points
– Surface reactivity
– Bulk materials of nanoparticles exhibit new
properties
• enhanced plasticity
 Nature – Expert in
Nanotechnology

 Nano airborne particles (100 -1000 nm)

cause water to condense and form
raindrops or snowflakes
 Plankton – varies in sizes from (1- 100
nm) Marine bacteria and viruses
 Glucose and Glucose oxidase

All cells require glucose (0.6

nm) as a fuel for metabolism.

Energy is released from

glucose when it is precisely
positioned relative to the
glucose oxidase enzyme
( 5 nm)

Lock and key mechanism

common in biology
 Actin and Myosin

Actin and myosin

molecules form the
system responsible for
muscle contraction.
The system operates by
a series of steps where
the head of myosin
molecule pulls the actin
past itself by 10–28 nm
each step.
 NATURE - Gecko Power

Gecko foot hairs typically have diameters

of 200 – 500 nm. Weak chemical interaction
between each hair and surface (each foot
has over 1 million of these hairs) provides a
force of10 N/cm2.

This allows Gecko’s to walk upside down

across glass ceilings.
Nanoparticles in Smoke from Fires

Bucky Balls (C60) were discovered in soot!

 Ferrofluids
Coated Iron oxide nanoparticles

(wikipedia)

•Great demo
•Buy ferrofluid, use
•Synthesize ferrofluid
 Microfluidic Focusing
PEI
DNA Stretching
250
m
DNA

PEI
 Synthesis of Multifunctional Lipopolyplex by
Microfluidic Focusing
Protamine Lipids
or peptides

ODN, siRNA
or MicroRNA

Targeting PEG
Protamine ODN
or peptides Lipids

10:100:300 ul/min

10:200:300 ul/min
 Computational

 WebMO – molecular modeling

– Simpler version – Odyssey
– You will get WebMO access through the Ohio
Supercomputer Center (OSC)
 Visualization tool
 Start – small molecules (25)
 Bio-Nano systems (DNA, RNA, Peptides)
 Chemistry in a Nano-drop
 Computational

 C60 - the fullerene that started it all.

 Expensive
 Toxic
 Tough to work with in open lab
 Not many applications

 BUT – GREAT EDUCATIONAL TOOL

 All carbons are sp2

5 carbons in a ring
1 double bond protrudes, 2 internal

Copy/paste 5 membered ring (6 rings

total)

Bucky-Bowl
Copy/Paste
Connect 2
 References

 Nano basics:
– http://www.begbroke.ox.ac.uk/learning/nano_
basics.php
 Nano safety:
– http://www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/nanotech/
 Nano teaching materials:
– Nanoscale Materials in Chemistry, Edited by
Kenneth Klabunde, John Wiley, 2001.
– http://www.nanohub.org/