Nanotechnologies E-Book

Pierre-Camille Lacaze

• Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
• Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 389

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2012

Beschreibung

Nanotechnologies: Concepts, Processing and Applications describes and explains how nanotechnologies have entered our everyday lives through scientific and industrial applications with the emphasis placed on the new perspectives in various fields related to societal problems. This book details how successive discoveries of new nanocarbon structures along with progress in different microscopy techniques have caused nanomaterials to take on an increasingly important role in electronics, electrochemical energy storage - batteries and fuel cells - and the electrical conversion of solar energy. Views once seen as futuristic on nanomachines and nanorobotics, therapeutic hopes and medical advances - such as those resulting from the application of new in-situ drug-delivery nanotechniques - are all presented. The most innovative developments are analyzed in terms of applications and should enable the reader to form his or her own opinion about the reality of the progress that can be expected from nanotechnologies in the near future. The book offers background reading for teachers in colleges who wish to have an overview on this subject.

Leseprobe

Contents

Preface

Acknowledgments

PART 1: Concepts, Discoveries and the Rapid Development of Nanotechnologies

Chapter 1 Nanotechnologies in Context: Social and Scientific Awareness of their Impact

1.1. Feynman, the visionary

1.2. Nanotechnologies and their definition

1.3. The consideration of nanotechnologies by scientific organizations

1.4. Bibliography

Chapter 2 The Rapid Expansion of Nanotechnology: New Ways of Observing the Infinitesimal and the Discovery of Carbonaceous Nanomaterials with Unusual Properties

2.1. Improving tools for observing the infinitesimal

2.2. The discovery of new carbonaceous nanomaterials

2.3. Conclusions

2.4. Bibliography

Chapter 3 Nanomaterials in All Their Forms: New Properties Due to the Confinement of Matter

3.1. The different types of nano-objects: main methods of preparation

3.2. Organizing nanoparticles into arrays

3.3. Conclusions

3.4. Bibliography

Chapter 4 Some Amazing Properties of Nanomaterials and of Their Assembly into Networks

4.1. The first effect of the confinement of matter: unusual catalytic and physicochemical properties

4.2. The optoelectronic properties of NPs due to confinement

4.3. The amazing properties of NP networks or nanostructured surfaces

4.4. Conclusions and perspectives

4.5. Bibliography

PART 2: Applications and Societal Implications of Nanotechnology

Chapter 5 Nanoelectronics of the 21st Century

5.1. Some history

5.2. Molecular electronics

5.3. Spintronics

5.4. Conclusions

5.5. Bibliography

Chapter 6 Energy and Nanomaterials

6.1. Electrochemical storage of electricity

6.2. The conversion of solar energy into electrical energy

6.3. Fuel cells

6.4. General conclusions

6.5. Bibliography

Chapter 7 Nanobiology and Nanomedicine

7.1. Introduction

7.2. Bionanoelectronics

7.3. Nanomedicine

7.4. Conclusions and perspectives

7.5. Bibliography

Chapter 8 Nanorobotics and Nanomachines of the Future

8.1. Natural molecular machines

8.2. Artificial molecular machines

8.3. Conclusions

8.4. Bibliography

Conclusions and Outlook

Index of Names

Index

First published 2013 in Great Britain and the United States by ISTE Ltd and John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2012949499

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ISBN: 978-1-84821-438-5

Preface

Lately, nanotechnologies have become an important social issue. Every so often they are the subject of major debates in the media, and their illustration is sometimes close to science fiction.

It is true that this domain constitutes a huge break with the daily microscopic world to which we are accustomed, even if only by using concepts of quantum mechanics, which are very different from those of classical physics. This leads us to think about physical phenomena in a completely different way.

Effects owing to the minuteness of objects often result in unexpected discoveries, which are increasing in number every day, to which innovative applications are constantly being added. These should revolutionize our way of life in the future.

Nanosciences and nanotechnologies have gradually been introduced, first in a modest and anonymous fashion in the 1960s (though the word “nanotechnology” was used for the first time in 1970), becoming a strategic research principle by the turn of the century. Nanotechnology is now a major field in science that has been developed by industries and universities, encouraged and subsidized by the most influential research organizations of all the developed countries and also every so often used as a form of advertising.

There is no doubt that nanotechnologies are interesting and we are all aware that future developments must come from mastering them. This is a booming industry, in terms of diversity as much as in the number of applications; one day’s progress is very rapidly surpassed by discoveries made the day after. Nanotechnologies are a scientific revolution whose implementations have still not ceased to surprise us. Sometimes unpredictable applications appear as a result, and so may be full of promise for improving our way of life in the future, with advantages that override the risks ultimately created by manipulating nanomaterials.

This book realistically presents the ongoing research and the most recent and significant achievements in the field of nanotechnology. The examples chosen are cited with their bibliographic references in a way that allows anyone to refer to the original sources; an overview of the cited article can always be accessed on the Internet.

This book is aimed at knowledgeable readers, and at the same time, those who are curious about how science is progressing or those who wish to inform themselves more accurately about the perspectives nanotechnologies may offer. Physical phenomena are generally outlined in simplified language and are deprived of all mathematical formalism, with supporting boxes of text designed to not only alleviate discussions but also draw the readers’ attention to several key points essential for their understanding. There are eight chapters in this book, which are separated into two parts; one describes the main concepts and the other describes the major areas in which nanotechnologies are applied.

Part 1: Concepts, discoveries and the rapid development of nanotechnologies

Chapter 1 describes the emergence of ideas and the incentives of research organizations toward nanotechnologies.

Chapter 2 shows how the discoveries of new carbonaceous nanomaterials with uncommon properties and the invention of new methods of observing the infinitesimal have made nanosciences and nanotechnologies stand out in industry and research.

Chapter 3 describes the most illustrative nano-objects of various shapes and structures and their implementation into structured networks.

Chapter 4 analyzes properties due to confinement of matter in the case of metallic insulating nanomaterials and semiconductors in various forms (nanoparticles, nanowires, etc.), either grouped into networks or ungrouped.

Part 2: Applications and societal implications of nanotechnology

Chapter 5 recounts the evolution of electronics and new orientations toward molecular electronics and spintronics (a new discipline combining magnetism and electronics).

Chapter 6 shows how using nanomaterials can improve yields of stored energy along with the conversion of solar energy into electricity, resulting in important ecological applications to habitats and totally electric vehicles.

Chapter 7 describes recent uses of nanotechnologies in medicine and biology, and the opportunity to update applications for new non-invasive therapies.

Chapter 8 provides an insight into future ideas developed during the design of nanomachines, with examples of promising applications of molecular valves in medicine.

Pierre Camille LacazeOctober 2012

Acknowledgments

The idea of writing this book arose during a lecture given at the Carré Magique in Lannion, convened by ABRET (Breton Research and Technology Association) and APAST (Scientific Animation Association of Trégor). The enthusiasm and remarkable scientific expertise of all members of these committees deserve high appreciation.

I would like to thank several people who have helped and encouraged me to write this book.

I would like to thank P.N. Favennec, series editor of ISTE Ltd and secretary of the scientific board of ABRET, who encouraged me to formalize in writing the contents of the lecture that I gave on nanotechnologies, and also M. Urien, former engineer at CNET (National Centre of Telecommunication Studies) and vice president of APAST, for his indirect contribution to the content of this book and warm welcome shown by him and his wife toward me.

I would also like to thank my laboratory colleagues at ITODYS (Laboratory of Interfaces, Processing, Organization and System Dynamics) at the University Paris Diderot for enabling me to benefit from using the facilities and for privileged online access to all scientific literature.

I would especially like to thank J.-C. Lacroix, Professor at the University Paris Diderot, for his advice and fruitful exchanges that we have had throughout the writing of this book, as well as J.M. El Hage Chahine, director of research at CNRS, and M. Hémadi, lecturer, for their pertinent advice and suggestions about biological problems.

Finally, I would like to thank my wife for helping me with proofreading and for her patience, as well as my children for their encouragement throughout the writing of this book.

PART 1

Concepts, Discoveries and the Rapid Development of Nanotechnologies

Chapter 1

Nanotechnologies in Context: Social and Scientific Awareness of their Impact

1.1. Feynman, the visionary

The term “nanotechnology” was coined in the 1970s by the Japanese professor Norio Taniguchi [TAN 74] to design “infinitesimal” technologies; however, interest in such technologies had already been around well before that time.

Richard Feynman (a physicist famous for his developments in quantum electrodynamics, Nobel Prize awarded 1965) was the first to anticipate the future interest in studying and using properties of objects or systems composed of only a small number of atoms or molecules (atomic or molecular aggregates) to develop new fields of applications based on the practice of a new physical chemistry [FEY 59].

In a lecture given in 1959 at the American Society of Physics congress at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), he defined a new type of chemistry in which atoms are individually manipulated with the prospect of developing devices at the nanometer scale (a billionth of a meter).

The title of his lecture “There’s Plenty of Room at the Bottom” became famous. It was a real incentive for scientists to explore the world of the infinitesimal that he presented as a new El Dorado for science and technology, and for the benefit of society.

Figure 1.1.Feynman with his students in the 1950s (courtesy of Caltech)

To illustrate his point and to stir the imagination of the audience, he showed, after a simple computation, that the 25 volumes of Encyclopedia Brittanica could be inscribed onto the head of a pin.

Speaking in the context of the 1950s could be somewhat perplexing, considering the advancing state of technology in the field of miniaturization in general, especially that of electronics.

Indeed, we must remember that the invention of the transistor by the American scientists, Shockley, Bardeen and Brattain in Bell laboratories (Nobel Prize awarded 1957) dates back to 1947 [SHO 56], and that the first integrated circuit (an important simplification of electronic circuits) invented by Kilby (Nobel Prize awarded 2000) in Texas Instruments laboratories in the United States, only appeared a decade later, and was far from miniature [KIL 00].

It was not until the early 1970s that the first processors appeared; devices including a very large number of transistors arranged in thin layers on the same base of silicon. We can rightly consider this to have marked the actual beginning of the miniaturization of electronic circuits.

This miniaturization of circuits arranged in thin layers could not have been carried out if it was not for the considerable progress made in the chemistry and physics of surfaces and without the development of instruments for analyzing and controlling them at the microscopic scale.

Figure 1.2.Shockley, Bardeen and Brattain (from left to right), Bell Labs, 1947

Yet this is still far from manipulations at the nanometer scale. As a guide, the first microprocessors built in 1971 by Intel® (4004-86 Processor) already containing a decent number of transistors (2,300), of miniscule sizes (approximately 10 µm), are in no way comparable to the most recent processors made in 2010, involving about a billion transistors, and a hundred times smaller in size [INT 2011].

This nicely shows how in the 1960s technology was deeply rooted in the micrometer scale, and that Feynman’s premonition could appear more futuristic to some and somewhat utopic to others.

1.2. Nanotechnologies and their definition

After numerous discussions, a consensus emerged in the scientific community around 2000; the field of nanotechnology was rather generally defined as the manipulation of objects with dimensions between 1 and 100 nm. The term “nanotechnologies” is intentionally recommended rather than “nanosciences” in order to emphasize all the social implications that nanotechnologies might be able to bring in the near future.

This definition, a priori restrictive, implies that all manipulations of objects with dimensions of nanometers (groups of atoms or molecules) translate as an insertion or a link to macroscopic systems (objects with dimensions of micrometers or millimeters) that are also a part of nanosciences.

So, any modification made to a material, by grafting atoms or molecules onto its surface, or even by incorporating nanosized particles into the core of the material is still found under this definition. In a more general fashion, this comes back to defining these modifications as a restructuring of matter at the nanometer scale. This definition also applies to manipulating complex macroscopic objects to which nanosized active components are associated.

From a practical point of view, defining nanotechnologies according to units in nanometers is rather allusive if we do not have some indications of known objects.

The nanometer, equal to a billionth of a meter (one millionth of a millimeter or one thousandth of a micron) is not a common unit of measurement. This is why, in order to better appreciate this dimension, we have placed (Figure 1.3) some more familiar objects (atoms, molecules, living cells, wavelengths of visible light, transistors and microprocessors from the previous generation, etc.) on to a logarithmic scale.

So, at the lower limits of the scale, between 0.1 and 1 nm, we find atoms (made up of a nucleus and an electron cloud); next come molecules made up of assemblies of atoms whose size clearly reflects the number of atoms.

In the case where the number of atoms making up a molecule is very large, the diameter of the molecule is still less than 1 nm, but its length can vary from several nanometers to tens of nanometers (macromolecule).

In extreme cases such as deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), a molecule made up of an assembly of two strands of DNA (two macromolecules of complementary structures that spontaneously combine as a result of weak forces), the diameter is less than 1 nm, but the length of the molecule is considerable and can reach up to several hundred nanometers, or even several tens of centimeters (Stryer [STR 95]).

The electronics industry, where remarkable developments have been made in terms of miniaturization, is also at the heart of nanotechnology.

For instance, the last generation of Intel® field-effect transistors (the FET “Tri Gate” is approximately 100 nm), which intervenes in the operating of microprocessors (cm dimensions), could only be carried out thanks to advances in vacuum-deposition techniques, which now allow extremely complex circuits to be made from diverse materials with layers of only a few nanometers thick.

Figure 1.3.Scale of dimensions of several familiar objects positioned on a logarithmic scale (each interval corresponds to a multiple of 10). The Angström (Å), generally used to define dimensions of atoms, is equal to 0.1 nm. For a color version of this figure seewww.iste.co.uk/lacaze/nano.zip

Beyond 100 nm, the visible light spectrum (VL) is also a familiar dimension, with bands of wavelengths λ extending from 400 nm (violet) to 700 nm (red).

Much further in this same range of dimensions, we find the human hair, with thicknesses varying according to the individual between 30 and 80 µm (i.e. 30,000 and 80,000 nm).

Finally, in the centimeter range, microprocessors, comprising an assembly of a considerable number of transistors (around one billion in 2010), which can be regarded as pure products of nanotechnology, presented in the form of a small circuit board of several centimeters.

1.3. The consideration of nanotechnologies by scientific organizations

In the 1960s and the 1970s, a large portion of experiments in physics, chemistry and biology could be considered retrospectively as being within the field of nanoscience, even though this term had not yet been coined.

Given the importance of new applications related to the discovery and study of new materials of nanometric dimensions such as aggregates of atoms or nanoparticles (NPs) or carbon nanomaterials (fullerenes in 1980, nanotubes of carbon in 1985) and also, after new observation instruments in the nanometric scale were invented (near-field scanning microscopy), it was not until the 1990s that public research organizations began to realize the importance of the domain and encouraged the majority of governments to financially support R&D initiatives within nanosciences. It was in the United States that the incentive was greatest. At the initiative of the NSF (National Science Foundation), there was a considerable mobilization among the main components of society, in order to formalize the launch of a vast research program dedicated to all forms of nanotechnologies.

This is the famous National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) developed at the beginning of 2000 under the auspices of societies’ major scientists and with the support of federal departments.

This NNI establishes a strategic preliminary plan of 10 years for the intensive development of nanotechnologies.

Among the main actions of R&D to be undertaken, there are nine key themes:

1) the nanostructuration of materials;

2) industrial production at the nanoscale;

3) chemical, biological and radiological detection and protection against explosives;

4) instrumentation and metrology;

5) nanoelectronics, nanophotonics and nanomagnetics;

6) health: diagnosis and therapies;

7) conversion of energy and its storage;

8) micromechanics and robotics;

9) upgrading and developing chemical processes at the nanoscale for improving environmental conditions (Roco [ROC 11]).

Figure 1.4.Annual evolution of credits dedicated to R&D in different parts of the world. Notice the acceleration of financing after 2000 and 2006, with a global amount of more than $7 billion in 2009. (China, Korea and Taiwan represent the countries in the category “Others”.) (adapted from Roco [ROC 11]). For a color version of this figurewww.iste.co.uk/lacaze/nano.zip

To highlight how important this plan is, President Clinton personally offered his support in a speech that he gave on January 21, 2000, at Caltech, more than 40 years after that of Feynman [CLI 00].

Very rapidly, similar plans were also implemented in other countries, with similar priorities to those of the NNI. Accompanied by important financial support, they contributed to induce a strong inclination in science toward all types of nanotechnology. The growth in loans, granted by diverse states or regions of the world, shows rather brilliantly the growing interest in their development (Figure 1.4).

Just as significantly, the increase in scientific publications within this sector also demonstrates a generalized tendency toward the study of nanosciences; quite remarkably, China has now overtaken the United States in terms of publications (Figure 1.5).

Figure 1.5.Evolution of the number of total publications within the field of nanotechnology between 1990 and 2009, calculated by studying the keywords in the SCI database (Science Citation Index, Thomson Reuters) (adapted from Roco [ROC 11])

At the European level, the overall activity in the field of nanotechnology is equally as great. In 2010, it surpassed the United States, China and Japan in terms of total publications, with a distribution according to the 27 members (countries) in the EU, approximately proportional to the size of populations of each one.

Economically, this is a huge market; in 2010, it was given a value of approximately $250 billion.

In terms of research activities, there were 400,000 researchers in 2008 (150,000 of whom are in the United States) within the field of nanotechnology, a number that is constantly increasing and is expected to reach two million (800,000 of whom are in the United States) by 2015 [ROC 11].

In France, since 2005, there has been a major reorganization in research, with the purpose of encouraging the development of nanotechnologies. The MINATEC (Mini and Nano Technologies) center, inaugurated in 2006 at the scientific polygon in Grenoble, currently has more than 2,000 researchers and includes the most significant center of research in Europe dedicated to nanotechnologies; the ultimate aim being the collaboration of international research projects with industry. Academic research was also restructured under the auspices of the French National Centre of Scientific Research (CNRS) with the creation of six regional centers of expertise from 2006 onward (C’Nano) joining together more than 6,000 researchers in the nanosciences and with inclination of favoring exchanges and collaborations between laboratories.

Undoubtedly, society can expect beneficial outcomes to be manifested, especially in the field of medicine as we will see later on; the introduction of nanotechnologies represents a major event in the 21st Century, the same as seen with computing at the end of the 20th Century.

1.4. Bibliography

[CLI 00] CLINTON B., Clinton’s Address to Caltech on Science and Technology, 21 January 2000, available at http://marcomm.caltech.edu/events/presidential_speech/.

[FEY 59] FEYNMAN R.P., “There’s plenty of Room at the Bottom’’, Annual Meeting of the American Physical Society at ‘Caltech’, December 1959, available at http://www.zyvex.com/nanotech/feynman.html, http://calteches.library.caltech.edu/47/2/1960Bottom.pdf (original).

[INT 11] Intel 22 nm-technology, 2011, available at http://www.intel.com/content/www.us/en/silicon-innovations/intel-22nm-technology.html.

[KIL 00] KILBY J.S., “Turning potential into realities: the invention of the integrated circuit”, Nobel Lecture, December, 2000, http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/2000/kilby-lecture.pdf.

[NNI 11] NNI Program Components Areas 2001–2012, available at http://www.nano.gov/nnipca.

[ROC 11] ROCO M.C., “The long view of nanotechnology development: the National Nanotechnology Initiative at 10 years”, Journal of Nanoparticle Research, vol. 13, pp. 427–445, 2011.

[SHO 56] SHOCKLEY W., Transistor technology evokes new physics, Nobel lecture, December, 1956, http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1956/shockley-lecture.pdf.

[STR 95] STRYER L., “DNA and RNA: molecules of heredity”, Biochemistry, Chapter 4, 4th edition, Freeman, New York, NY, pp. 87, 1995.

[TAN 74] TANIGUCHI N., “On the basic concept of nano-technology”, Proceedings of the International Conference on Production Engineering, Part II, Japan Society of Precision Engineering, Tokyo, 1974.

Chapter 2

The Rapid Expansion of Nanotechnology: New Ways of Observing the Infinitesimal and the Discovery of Carbonaceous Nanomaterials with Unusual Properties

Since the 1970s, a large number of scientists have been developing research devoted to the study of surface reactions. Typically, fundamental studies on chemophysical phenomena have been carried out at the atomic and molecular level, localized near the surface (at a region of thickness of several nanometers) and hence this is already within the field of nanosciences.

The real rapid expansion of nanotechnology, however, did not appear until much later, occurring approximately at the beginning of the 1990s, as the publication growth curves show in Figure 1.5, Chapter 1.