Nanosciences @ I ndian I nstitute of Technology Kanpur Nano-Science & Technology Initiative Department of Science and Technology, India Ashutosh Sharma Department of Chemical Engineering
DST Unit on Nanosciences @ IITK Mesoscale Structures, Patterning and Properties with Emphasis on Soft Materials and Thin Films � A state-of-the-art facility and resources for soft matter nanoscience and nanotechnology. � Explore new techniques of nano-fabrication based on a creative combination of “top-down” including soft lithography, self-assembly and self- organization. � Projects related to nano-scale understanding, fabrication and use of soft materials in coatings, NEMS, functional interfaces and bulk-nano
Journey of the last two years!
Nano-Sciences at IITK: A Mega- Passion……. tructure Property Behavior Micro- and Nano Fab Lithographies, Beams… Self-assembly Self-organization op- own Bottom-up
Highly Multidisciplinary AND Interdisciplinary Team CORE GROUP FACULTY (~ 10) Ashutosh Sharma (soft nano fabrication; nanomechanics) Ramesh C. Budhani (magnetic nanomaterials; spintronics) V. N. Kulkarni (ion beams; fabrication) Department of Chemical Engineering Animangsu Ghatak (microfluidics; soft fabrication) Yogesh Joshi (polymer-clay nanocomposites) Nishith Verma (carbon nanocomposites) Jayant K. Singh (simulations of soft materials)
Department of Chemistry Sandeep Verma (self-assembly; nano-bio) Department of Materials and Metallurgical Engineering Ashish Garg (thin films; nano-structures) Department of Mechanical Engineering Shantanu Bhatacharya (nano-fabrication; MEMS) Department of Physics Rajiv Gupta (SPM; Raman) (Additional members may be co-opted depending on the focus of research---soft materials based patterning and their expertise in the Unit resources)
Major Facilities at Nanosciences Center � About 2500 sq. ft. of class 1000-100 clean rooms � Fabrication resources � Characterization resources � Collaborations: Northwestern; UI UC; UCI ; Cambridge; NI ST; JNCASR; I I Sc……. Fall 2007
Fabrication � Focused Ion Beam (Dual Beam FIB) � E-Beam Lithography � Broad Beam Ion Mill � Maskless Photolithography � Pulse laser � Coating � Langmuir-Blodgett Deposition � NSOM UV Lithography � Nanoimprint Lithography � Polymer Ink-jet Printing � High temperature furnaces…..
Characterization � Confocal Microscopy � Micro-Raman � Scanning Probe Microscopies � Near-field Scanning Optical Microscopy (NSOM) � Imaging and Spectroscopic Ellipsometry � Profilometers (Mechanical and Optical) � SEM � WAXRD; SAX � SQUID � Optical Microscopes � Contact Angle Goniometer……..
Specific Scientific Objectives: � Development of novel and facile techniques for patterning, structuring and fabrication using soft materials like polymers, gels, biological materials � Development of functional interfaces such as super- hydrophobic surfaces and super adhesives based on meso patterning of surfaces � Attachment –detachment energetics of sub-micron particles to surface and modulation by surfactants � Synthesis of ordered arrays of quantum dots and nanowires including doped oxide and metal alloys and magnetic materials
� Exploration of interfacial instabilities and failure mechanism in soft nano-structures � Development of soft composites including polymer- nanoclay composites, thin film of meso-porous silica and its nano composites � Magnetic nano particles and assemblies � Development of computational nanomechanics � Micro-SQUIDS and nanoscale magnetics including magnetic relaxation and supermagnetism � Fabrication of carbon meso-structures based on soft fabrication techniques � Microfluidic based devices and sensors
Current Areas of Nanosciences at IITK � Fabrication using FIB, E-beam (masters; devices…) � Novel soft-lithographies for large area, meso- patterning: “top-down” meets self-organization � Nano- mechanics of soft confined materials � Fabrication of novel MEMS: C-MEMS for micro- battery and cell-arrays � Nanocomposites: polymer, carbon, clays, silica... � Meso-textured Smart functional surfaces: superwetting; smart adhesives; optical and printing surfaces……
� Interfacial/Colloidal interactions in aqueous media with polymer/surfactant adsorption � Stability of soft nanostructures including structures produced by nanoimprint lithography � Nanobiology: Scaffolds � Nanoparticles, nanofibres and nanofilms: semiconductors, metals, polymers, carbon, ceramics, organics….. � Nanostructured Magnetic Materials; spintronics
Nano-Patterning of Soft Materials In devices; MEMS/NEMS; Sensors; Smart Surfaces; Micro-fluidics; Super-capacitors and Batteries; Smart Adhesives; Functional Interfaces……….. 1.Facilities for large area, rapid patterning: Inkjet Printing, Gravure Printing, Nanoimprint Lithography, Laser Writing, FIB, E-beam…… 2. Technology development for new patterning methods based on self-assembly, including e-field assisted patterning, phase change, dewetting, phase separation and stress-engineering , Nanocoatings; Fast micro/nano Texturing…….
3. Products: � Smart and Functional Surfaces by Patterning: Adhesives, Anti-reflective Coatings, Structured Colors, Difficult to fabricate Anti-fouling, Functional patterns Super-wetting � Carbon patterning: MEMS, High Area Batteries � Bio- and Chemical Sensors � Fluidic Devices � Opto-electronic Devices
Additional Recent Nano-Grants: � Self organized patterning of polymers, British Council (UKIERI), Rs. 2.4 millions (co-PI from UK: Prof. Ullrich Steiner, Cambridge University). � Carbon MEMS, part of Indo-US Center for Advanced and Futuristic Manufacturing, Indo-US Science and Technology Forum, 2006-2008. Rs. 6.4 million (Coordinator: Prof. Amitabha Ghosh; US collaborator: Prof. Marc Madou, UCI). � Manufacturing Robust Nanostructures: Materials, Methods and Metrology, Indo-US Science and Technology Forum, Frontiers of Engineering (FOE) Award for collaboration with NIST Rs. 2.5 million. (US co-PI: Christopher Soles). � Mesostructured Functional Thin Films and Interfaces of Soft Materials , Department of Science and Technology, 2007--2010. Rs. 49 million. � Understanding adhesion of soft particles, Proctor & Gamble, 2008-2009. Rs.3 million
Some Innovations � A novel micro/nano fluidic adhesive has been prepared and shown to be vastly more effective � A novel nano fabrication method based on gel miniaturization has been proposed � Three novel methods for self-organized sub-micron patterning of polymers on large areas have been developed and currently being further fine-tuned for applications. � A novel highly asymmetric nano-porous silica surface has been synthesized. One face of this surface is super- hydrophobic and the other is hydrophilic. Potential applications are in textile and barrier coatings.
� Application of electric fields to pattern the surfaces of soft visco-ealstic materails on sub-micron lengthscales by spatio-temporal variation of the e-field. � A novel technique for synthesis of colloidal solution of nanoparticles has been developed. This pulsed laser based method allows synthesis of multicomponent oxide and metal alloy nanoparticles, which is rather difficult to achieve with the know methods. � Stress tuning has been used to create novel 2- dimensional fractal networks of iron.
2006-07 � Over 70 publications in International Journals � 3 patents filed and 1 disclosure � 14 PhD students and several project staff trained � In addition to the Unit funding ~ 15 Carores, 6 additional nano related projects ~ 7 carores generated; two industry supported � Collaborations with Cambridge, NIST, Lehigh, UIC, JNCASR, Saha Institute, TRDDC, NUS……….. � Exciting new discoveries!!!!
Grand Challenges of Soft Patterning “Top-down” Meets Self-Organization!! � Sub-micron Features on Large areas (> cm; beyond!) � Rapid (m per second !! ); (roll-to-roll?; parallel) � Integration across Different Materials (hydrogels, ceramics, carbon……) � Process Complexity; Resources, Cost…. � Patterning beyond Master: One Master, Many Slaves � In-situ Tuning of Patterns � Programmable Patterning
Functional Nano-structured Interfaces: Smart-adhesives
Producing High Strength Re-usable Soft Adhesives: Bio-inspired Adhesion Examples of Bioadhesives (Majumder, Ghatak & Sharma; Science, 2007) Adhesive pads of Setae of Gecko insects 1.8 1.5 1.2 0.9 F G , t 0.6 J/m 2 Elastic h d Film 0.3 0.0 Microfluidic adhesive 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10
Fabricating in ‘Exotic’ Functional Materials: Carbon: Micro/ nano Webs and C-MEMS Energy: micro battery, micro-fuel cell, super capacitor…. Electronics: molecular switches, memory…… Biomaterials: C-MEMS……. Environment: Adsorption & catalytic media… With Marc Madou, UCI
Difficult to Fabricate Functional Materials: Carbon Energy: micro-fuel cell, micro battery, super capacitor….; Biomaterials……. Pyrolyzed Polymer structures !! Stability : Stick Functionalization: Carbon fibres Collaborator: Marc Madou, UCI
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