Course Abstract

The main purpose of this class is to make students learn about most recent techniques for patterning and manipulating materials in nanometer length scale.
The group project will be a major component of this course. The purpose of group project is to explore exciting areas of nanotechnology and to practice generating new research ideas on their own. In the beginning of the course, each student will survey the fifteen areas of nanotechnology fields distributed is the syllabus, and select most interesting topics. Then the instructor will match students into 3~5 groups with common interests. Once the groups are formed, they will work together to create their own research proposal. The proposal will either be written or presented to the class, depending on student interests and the number of students who take the class. The instructor is willing to meet with the teams at anytime during the semester to help them find the background literature which is needed for their project and develop their research ideas. Also some class time will be used for this purpose.

Course Schedule

1 Week	Introduction of the course
2 Week	Chemical bonding
3 Week	Intermolecular interactions
4 Week	Organic monolayers: - Self-assembled monolayers, Langmuir-Blodgett films - Wlectrostatic self-assembly
5-6 Week	Organic semiconductors and conductors: - Band structure of conjugated polymers, doping organic semiconductors - Field effect transistors and light emitting diodes - Energy and charge transfer, biosensors - Artificial photosynthesis and photovoltaic cells
7 Week	The scanning probes: - Entry to nanoscale structures
8 Week	Nanopatterning: - Externally directed nanopatterning - Nanoimprint lithography and scanning probe lithography - Atomic manipulation
9 Week	Nanoelectronic devices
10 Week	Molecular electronic measurements
11 Week	Molecular electronic devices
12 Week	Organic-inorganic mesostructures
13-14 Week	Hydrogen Storage Materials: - Van’t Hoff’s Equation - Carbon nanotubes, silicated nanotubes, and mesoporous structues
15 Week	Photonics and colloid crystals - Maxwell equations and principles for light diffraction - Display materials, band gap engineering
16 Week	Student presentation (group project)