Tuesday, September 30, 2003Volume 3, Issue 11
WUN Advanced Materials Seminar
Measuring and Manipulating Molecules at the Nanometre Scale
Graham Leggett
Department of Chemistry, University of Sheffield
Wednesday, October 1, 2003
12 Noon
101 Technology Center Building
The development of nanotechnology has gone hand-in-hand with the development of scanning probe microscopy (SPM). SPM provides us with methods to both characterize and manipulate materials at the nanometer scale. In parallel with these advances, the emergence of self-assembled monolayer (SAMs) as a new class of model organic film material has opened new opportunities in surface chemistry. This presentation will draw on all of these elements. The use of friction force microscopy (FFM) to characterize nanoscale molecular composition and structure will be described. Data will be presented from studies of a range of mixed SAM systems to illustrate the capability of FFM for the characterization of heterogeneous materials. Results of studies of SAMs formed on other substrates (Cu and Al) will also be reported, illustrating the sensitivity of FFM to changes in molecular organization. The use of FFM to study a surface chemical reaction will be demonstrated. Studies of cellular interactions with SAMs will be presented, illustrating the value of these materials in fundamental investigations of complex interfacial phenomena. Results will be presented on the adsorption of proteins onto SAMs, characterized using a combination of methods including radio labeling and atomic force microscopy, and their potential relevance to understanding tissue cell attachment will be explored. Methods for patterning SAMs using photochemical methods will be described. Micron-scale structures may be fabricated easily, and these exhibit well-defined structures that may be used to guide cellular attachment. The extension of these methods to the nanometer scale will be reported. It will be shown that using a scanning near-field optical microscope (SNOM) coupled to a UV laser in place of the conventional mask/lamp combination, it is possible to routinely fabricate structures with line widths of only a few tens of nm, and often less than the diameter of the aperture in the SNOM fiber. Features as small as 20 nm may be written into SAMs, rivaling the spatial resolution of electron beam lithography. SAMs patterned using this approach, termed scanning near-field photolithography (SNP) may be employed as templates for the construction of more complex architectures through the attachment of proteins or nanoparticles. SNP-patterned SAMs may be used as resists for the etching of three-dimensional nanostructures into gold films. The principle underlying the utility of SNP is the excitation of a photochemical reaction in a functional group distributed with monolayer coverage on a solid substrate. This definition means that the approach is not restricted to monolayers of alkanethiols. Its wider utility will be demonstrated through data obtained for hydrogen passivated silicon, to which alkenes have been bound using a process based around SNP under a liquid medium.
2003 Nelson W. Taylor Lecture Series
Materials at the Nanoscale
For 2 days, the HUB Auditorium was home to an exciting series of lectures on nanoscience put on by Materials Science and Engineering. The highlight of this year's series was the standing-room-only talk, "Nanoscience and nanotechnology: Building a big future from small things," given by Charles M. Lieber, joint Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University and the 2003 Nelson W. Taylor Awardee. A pioneer in the synthesis of a broad range of nanoscale materials, the characterization of these materials, and the development of methods of hierarchical assembly of nanowires, Professor Lieber and his group have also demonstrated visionary applications for these materials in nanoelectronics, biosensing, and nanophotonics. He has also pioneered the creation and application of new chemically sensitive microscopes for probing organic and biological materials at nano and molecular scales. His talk demonstrated with data and spectacular photos the versatility and attractiveness of nanowires as building blocks and showed how basic science can revolutionize technology.
Other lectures in the 2-day series:
- New materials from molecular and mesoscopic building blocks - Tom Mallouk, Dupont Professor of Materials Chemistry
HIGHLIGHT: Clip of a simple molecular motor was shown; and no, nanoparticles are not going to take over the world! - Template directed growth of semiconductor nanowires - Joan Redwing, Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Engineering
HIGHLIGHT: Gas phase synthesis techniques can be used to control the structure and conductivity of semiconductor nanowires. - Metal nanoparticles: Biomolecule conjugates for sensing and assembly - Christine Keating, Assistant Professor of Chemistry
HIGHLIGHT: Tiny striped metal wires attract biomolecules, acting as "barcodes"for tracking biomaterials and allowing researchers to perform multiple analyses using conventional optics. - Synthesis dispersion and processing of nanoparticulates for films, multilayers, and bulk materials - James Adair, Professor of Materials Science and Engineering
HIGHLIGHT: Bulk and multilayer nanograin ceramic and metal materials prepared using colloidal and interfacial chemistry concepts for synthesis and processing. - Nanochannel reactor process for fabrication of oriented polymeric nanowire assembly - Seong Kim, Assistant Professor of Chemical Engineering
HIGHLIGHT: Developing nanomanufacturing processes to attain aligned polymeric nanowires - mimicking a spider in the nanoscale. - Creating nanostructures through self- and directed-assembly - Paul Weiss, Professor of Chemistry and Physics
HIGHLIGHT: Can a single molecule act like a switch? Yes, by molecular motion. Spectacular images of self-assembled molecular nanostructures. - Polymer/inorganic nanocomposites: A new class of hybrid materials - Evangelos Manias, Assistant Professor of Materials Science and Engineering
HIGHLIGHT: The addition of just 4% nanofillers can yield 3-fold performance increase or decrease.
Together these 8 lectures gave an overview of what's new and what's hot in nanoscience and at Penn State. You wish you were there! If you missed these, check the web sites of the presenters -you may be rewarded with highlights from their presentations and/or more information on their research.
* The Nelson W. Taylor Lecture Series in Materials Science and Engineering honors the memory of Professor Taylor (1869-1965), head of the Penn State Ceramics Department from 1933-1943, and has consistently attracted scientists of international prominence since its establishment in 1969.
MRS Fall Meeting
The Materials Research Institute will host a reception at the Fall Meeting of the Materials Research Society being held in Boston on Tuesday evening, December 2nd. All Penn State Faculty, Students, and Researchers are invited for refreshments and informal discussions with their colleagues. We would also like to send special invitations to alumni and friends of the Penn State materials community, so if you have any suggestions please send Donna Lucas their contact information.
MRI Frontiers in Materials
Jeremy J. Baumberg
Professor of Meso-/Nano-scale Science and Technology in the Schools of Physics & Astronomy, Electronics & Computer Science, University of Southampton.
Chair of the Southampton NanoMaterials Forum
Director of the Southampton NanoMaterials Rapid Prototyping Facility.
NanoPhotonics in Metamaterials: Templated Self-Assembly from 1nm to 100 Microns.
October 9th at 1:25 p.m.
26 Hosler Bldg.
(Reception following in EMS Museum at 2:30 p.m.)
Quantum States and Quantum Correlations in Single Quantum Dots: Where Can "Artificial Atoms" Go?
October 10th at 11: 15 a.m.
117 Osmond
(Refreshments at 11:00 a.m. 117 Osmond)
Jeremy J. Baumberg is Professor of Meso-/Nano-scale Science and Technology in the Schools of Physics & Astronomy, Electronics & Computer Science at the University of Southampton. Before this he explored novel ultrafast optoelectronics at the Hitachi Cambridge Laboratory within the University of Cambridge for four years prior to his appointment at Southampton in October 1998. He has also held an IBM research fellowship at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and a research fellowship at Oxford. He has a wide range of research interests spanning nanophotonics, quantum dots, ultrafast coherent control, self-assembling nanostructures, semiconductor microcavities and photonic crystals. His international reputation is evidenced by >20 plenary and invited talks at major conferences over the last 4 years, with 11 Phys. Rev. Letters, 6 Appl. Phys. Letters, and Optics Letters, Advanced Materials and Nature papers in that time alone. Progress in these photonic nanostructures recently led to his successful spin-out of a new company, Mesophotonics, based on ≅2.8M of venture capital investment. His wide-ranging success has been recognized by the 2000 Institute of Physics Charles Vernon Boys Medal, and the prestigious 2004 Mott Lectureship. He chairs the Southampton NanoMaterials Forum and is director of the Southampton NanoMaterials Rapid Prototyping Facility.
New Faculty
We would like to welcome new faculty who have joined Penn State University with an interest in materials research. Checkout their Web sites and learn about their research interests.
Melik C. Demirel, Assistant Professor Engineering Science & Mechanics
Research Interest: Nano-Bio Design, Computational Biology, Materials Science
Web Page: http://fenske.che.psu.edu/Faculty/Hahm/index.html
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Jong-in Hahm - Assistant Professor in Chemical Engineering
Research Interest:Synthesis of Nanomaterials; Fabrication of Nanotools; Single Biomolecule Study; Biosensors.
Web Page: http://fenske.che.psu.edu/Faculty/Hahm/index.html
Email:
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Ahmed Heikal - Associate Professor of Bioengineering
Research Interest: Understanding complex biological processes on a molecular level. Of particular interest to us is using native biomolecules for studying energy metabolism in cells/tissues and for non-invasive cancer diagnostics. Second, we are interested in the dynamical aspect of in-vivo specialized domains "or lipid rafts" and their roles in cellular functions. Finally, we are also investigating protein dynamics on a single-molecule level.
Web Page: http://www4.esm.psu.edu/people/?type=Facultyview=Large
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Ronald Hedden - Assistant Professor in Materials Science and Engineering
Research Interest: Dendrimers, gels, elastomers, hydrogels, liquid-crystalline polymers, low-k thin films, mesomorphic polymers, mechanical properties, nanoporous materials, networks, neutron scattering, SANS, star polymer, star-branched polymer.
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Aman Haque, Assistant Professor in Mechanical and Nuclear Engineering
Research Interest: MEMS, Nano-scale Materials Behavior, Tribology and Heat Transfer and Scaling Theory Development.
Web Page: http://www.mne.psu.edu/faculty/haque.html
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Zhiwen Liu, Assistant Professor in Electrical Engineering
Research Interest: Optical phenomena happening in short time (femtosecond) and/or short spatial (nanometer) scales and their applications in information technology (communication, memory, sensors), femtosecond pulse propagation in photonic crystal fiber, femtosecond camera, coherent anti-Stokes Raman spectroscopy (CARS) imaging sensor, data storage in nanostructures, and applications of holography.
Web Page: http://www.mri.psu.edu/directory/displayrecord/1892.asp
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Jian Xu -Assistant Professor in Engineering Science & Mechanics
Research Interest: Optoelectronic Devices and Circuits; Bioelectronics; and Biophotonics
Web Page: http://www4.esm.psu.edu/people/faculty/?ID=JXX10
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Shizhuo (Stuart) Yin, Assistant Professor in Electrical Engineering
Research Interest: Optical and digital signal and image processing; fiber optic communication system and devices, fiber optic sensor, medical optics, etc.
Web Page: http://www.ee.psu.edu/faculty/yin/yin1.html
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Materials Seminars
Wednesday, October 01, 2003
Time: 11:15 AM
Location: S5 Osmond Laboratory
Title: Self-assembling Nanocrystal Superlattices: Building With Artificial Atoms
Speaker: Christopher Murray, IBM Research Center
Wednesday, October 01, 2003
Time: 3:35 PM
Location: 114 EES Building
Title: Biodetectors and biomolecules
Speaker: Melik Demirel, Penn State
Thursday, October 02, 2003
Time: 1:15 AM
Location: 26 Hosler Building
Title: to be announced
Speaker: Theresa Mayer, Penn State
Thursday, October 02, 2003
Time: 12:15 PM
Location: S5 Osmond Laboratory
Title: Passivity - The Key to our Metals Based Civilization
Speaker: Digby Macdonald, Materials Science & Engineering
Thursday, October 02, 2003
Time: 4:00 PM
Location: 108 Wartik Laboratory
Title: Failure in Entangled Polymer Melts
Speaker: Benjamin Levich Institute for Physico-Chemical Hydrodynamics at the City College of the City University of New York
Tuesday, October 07, 2003
Time: 11:30 AM
Location: 108 Wartik Laboratory
Title: Process Systems and the Second Law of Thermodynamics
Speaker: Carneigie Mellon University
Wednesday, October 08, 2003
Time: 3:35 PM
Location: 114 EES Building
Title: The Hall-Petch Behavior of Multilayer Coatings
Speaker: Lawrence Friedman, Penn State
For a complete list of upcoming materials-related seminars go to:
http://www.mri.psu.edu/seminars.asp
Funding Opportunities
Posted September 22
NSF: Major Research Instrumentation
NSF: Instrumentation for Materials Research: Major Instrumentation Projects (IMR-MIP) NEW PROGRAM!
Posted September 12
DARPA: University Photonics Research Centers
DARPA: Laser Photacoustic Spectroscopy
Navy: Naval Air Vehicle Propulsion Technology
NAVY: Long Range Navy and Marine Corps Science & Technology
DOE: Chemicals and Forest Products Industries of the Future
Homeland Security: Federally Funded Research and Development Center
