Introduction

This is a graduate level course for those interested in the science and technology of a new class of materials that has been making a silent revolution in the last decade or so. The common ground here is that the building blocks of these materials, be it metal, ceramic or polymers, are nanometer size particles (and hence the name nanostructured materials). It is realized that the properties of materials can be engineered by controlling the sizes of these building blocks in the 1-100 nm size range and their assembly. Examples are increased strength of pure metals when grain sizes reduce to below 50 nm, extremely high strength of carbon nanotubes, changes in optical absorption in wide-gap semiconductor nanoparticles and enhanced ductility
in nanostructured ceramics. The emphasis in this course will be to introduce students to the science of the building blocks of nanostructured materials, material behavior when they are assembled and the technological implications of these materials. Special attention will be devoted to presenting new developments in this field and future perspectives.
Course Format:
The format will be a seminar-type course consisting of lectures, discussion on seminal topics covered in the lectures, reading assignments based on research papers provided in the class and discussion based on them, student presentation and development of short computer modules on different aspects of nanomaterials.

Class Format:

The first five weeks will have lectures by the Instructors and the following weeks will be devoted to student presentations (typically 30 minutes for presentation and 15 minutes for discussion). There will be invited speakers who will talk on different
areas related to nanomaterials, during the Material Science and Engineering Department seminar series. These special seminars will be announced in the class and the students will be required to attend.

 

Professors: Pulickel M. Ajayan and Richard W. Siegel.