DREXEL FORMS
NANOTECHNOLOGY INSTITUTE
Artist rendering of Edward D. Bossone Engineering Research Center.
By Katrin Cowan
Nanotechnology Program Coordinator
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T
his is a crucial time for nanotechnology
research. Nanotechnology is predicted to be the
driving technological force of the coming
decades, because it will change the way we see
materials and their potential.
Research in the area of nanotechnology will
allow scientists to manipulate matter at the
molecular and atomic levels in order to produce
materials with unique and controllable properties.The ability to work on this scale will impact
every aspect of our daily lives, from gas masks to
computer chips to heart surgery.
Drexel University (Philadelphia) has worked to
become a leader in nanotechnology research and
has been a key player in the Pennsylvania
Nanotechnology Institute (NTI) since its inception.
Funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,
NTI is a collaboration of the University of
Pennsylvania, the Ben Franklin Technology Partners
of South-East Pennsylvania and Drexel.
In January 2003, Drexel took its commitment
to nanotechnology leadership to the next level,
establishing the A.J. Drexel Nanotechnology
Institute (DNI).Yury Gogotsi, professor of
materials science and engineering, was appointed
director.
Gogotsi believes that much of the success of
nanotechnology will depend on the development
of new nanostructured materials, micro- and
nanoscale characterization techniques, and
nano manipulation
and manufacturing
tools. Drexel has
faculty working in
these areas and many
instruments that will
enable it to create a
major center of
expertise.
DNI will help to
coordinate faculty
TEM images of a 200-nm Al-O-N
already doing
coating on the Tyranno™ ZMI SiC fiber.
A nanocrystalline Al-O-N coating increasresearch in this area,
es the strength of these fibers from ~3
facilitate new
to >5 GPa (work of L. Chen and H.Ye).
research and create
partnerships between
researchers at Drexel and researchers elsewhere
in academia and industry. Much of the initial
research being sponsored by DNI is taking place
within Drexel’s Dept. of Materials Science &
Engineering.
www.ceramicbulletin.org
October 2003
Several groups in this department are working
on ceramic materials for structural, armor,
electronic, sensor and other applications.These
activities range from nanolaminated ternary
carbides and nitrides developed by Michel
Barsoum to piezoelectric microcantilevers
created by Wan Shih and Wei-Heng Shih.
Machinable ceramics developed by Barsoum
represent a new class of materials that combine
many properties of ceramics and metals.They
may be used for a variety of high-temperature
applications, and the design of their structure at
the atomic level allows researchers to precisely
control their properties.
Molecular dynamics simulation of a diamond nanocrystal growing on the surface
of silicon carbide (work of V. Kamyshenko).The carbide-derived carbon process
allows nanodiamond growth at ambient pressure and moderate temperature
with no plasma activation.
Wei-Heng Shih works on colloidal processing
and synthesis of oxide nanoparticles. In collaboration with Wan Shih, he is developing piezoelectric
actuators and sensors which have extreme
sensitivity. Other activities in the nanoceramics
area include plasma-spraying of ceramic and
nanocomposite coatings in the laboratory of
Richard Knight.
Gogotsi’s group works on diverse topics
ranging from
phase transformation in
ceramics
induced by
nanoindentation
and machining to
synthesis of
carbon and
ceramic coatings
on carbides. He
Artificially colored SEM of graphite crystals
and several
produced by chlorination of Fe3C (work of S.
others are
Dimovski).
working on
carbon nanotubes,
nanofibers and
other one-dimensional materials.
DNI not only will
assist in the
coordination of
these existing
activities, but also
will help to establish
new collaborations
with faculty from
V. Domnich, E. Hackett and Y. Gogotsi received the
other departments
ACerS Basic Science Division’s Roland B. Snow
Award for their Raman microspectroscopy analysis
in the College of
of indentation-induced damage in B4C.
Engineering, the
School of
Biomedical Engineering and the College of Medicine, which
could lead to the development of new medical implant
materials and drug delivery systems.
DNI manages several cross-disciplinary and inter-university educational activities such as the NSF Igert Fellowships
in nanoscale science and engineering for PhD students
studying at Drexel and the University of Pennsylvania.
The Edward D. Bossone Engineering Research Center, to
be completed by fall 2004, will house the DNI.The central
PhD students N. Naguib and S. Dimovski conduct Raman microspectroscopy studies on carbon nanotubes.
materials characterization facility will host the Raman
microspectroscopy laboratory (one of the best-equipped
in the United States), an
environmental scanning
electron microscope,
advanced scanning
probe microscopes, a
micro-FTIR spectrometer, a nanoindenter, a
pore-size analyzer and
other instruments
for materials
characterization.
PhD student D. Ge works on identification
For more information,
of the structure of new high-pressure
visit http://nano.materials
phases of silicon and boron carbide.
.drexel.edu/dnihome.htm.
American Ceramic Society Bulletin, Vol. 82, No. 10
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