Hot Topics Nanotechnology Biotechnology Computational Finance Astrophysics Green Chemistry Learning Goes Beyond Lectures Signs of Excellence Computing, Instrumentation, and the New Labs Why Choose Carnegie Mellon for Science?

Have a question? Try these links: Visits and Applications FAQ Parents Contact Us Site Map Home Carnegie Mellon Undergraduate Admissions

Mellon College of Science Carnegie Mellon

Nanotechnology

Recent progress in the measurement, modeling, and manipulation of matter and phenomena at the scale of 1-100 nanometers has the potential to revolutionize information processing, data storage, sensors, power generation, materials, environment, robotics, and medicine. Successful development of nanotechnology will require integration of many different fields, including biological sciences, chemistry, mathematical sciences, and physics.

Nanowires

Rick McCullough and Tomasz Kowalewski are collaborating to develop nanowires (shown here) and other new conductive organic materials. They begin with a type of semi-conducting polymer, regioregular polythiophenes, of great interest for cheap, easily processable electronics and for highly specialized applications such as biochemical sensors.

By combining polythiophenes with other polymer building blocks, their copolymerization carefully controls the nanostructure of the new polymer.

Magnetic Nanocrystals and Nanocomposites

Professor Sara Majetich works on magnetic nanocrystals and nanocomposites. One goal of her research program is to develop a better understanding of materials midway between the molecular and solid state limits. Another goal is to investigate potential applications of the nanomaterials.

Magnetic metal nanocrystals could have applications as magnetic toners in copying machines, in magnetic fluids called ferrofluids which are frequently used in robotics, as magnetic data storage media, and in biomedical applications such as magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), magnetic drug delivery and magnetic separation of cells or DNA. Carnegie Mellon has three patents based on this group's discoveries.

Macromolecular Engineering

Kris Matyjaszewski is a leader in developing advanced polymeric materials, mostly recently through a reaction, atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP), which is currently perhaps the most robust system to control radical polymerization of many important monomers such as styrenes, methacrylates, and acrylamides.

His technique allows chemists to control molecular structure at the nanoscale and design advanced materials to have desirable physical properties. For example, well-defined polymer brushes and nanoparticles (shown here) have been synthesized using organic vinyl monomers from inorganic colloids and silicon wafers. Professor Matyjaszewski has received numerous international awards for his work, including the 2002 American Chemical Society's Award in Polymer Science.

Nanoporous Materials

Professor Randall Feenstra and his team are preparing nanoporous materials. Specifically, they create nanoporous substrates or films of silicon carbide (SiC) and gallium nitride (GaN). When new films of SiC and GaN are grown on these porous material substrates, they are found to have reduced defect densities.

Both SiC and GaN are semiconductors that have applications in blue-to-ultraviolet light emitters and sensors. They are also used to fabricate high power/high frequency transistors.

The nanoporous materials are also used as catalysts and in fuel cells. Some model systems for studying bone tissue growth use nanoporous materials. Furthermore, they are used as membranes for the process of microdialysis in which molecules of specific size from an adjoining tissue permeate the membrane and are carried away to sensors for analysis.

The advantage of using SiC for many of these applications is that is it a very robust, refractory material (melting point above 2000° C) and it is also biocompatible, so that its extended presence in the body as part of an implanted sensor is possible.