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ANTS Seminar: Tuesday, January 25, 2005
Grand Challenges in Characterization of Nanomaterials
Dr. Gregory Blackman
DuPont
Lord Kelvin said “if you can not measure it, you can
not improve it.” This sentiment is especially true
in the burgeoning field of Nanotechnology. Devices, structures,
and materials that we could only imagine a few years ago
are rapidly moving from research into the real world. However,
the progress from discovery or invention to commercialization
is often derailed or slowed by our inability to characterize
the new material over the relevant size scales.
There are significant challenges in our ability to measure
or characterize the chemistry, structure and properties
of materials on the nanoscale. In cases where measurements
are
successful, the translation of the nano or micro measurement
to a macro, bulk or end-use property is still poorly understood.
For example nanoparticles in a polymer matrix can have
profound effects on mechanical properties. If the particles
are not
well dispersed the effects are usually profoundly bad.
The particles act as stress nucleation centers and the
mechanical
properties are worse than the original polymer itself.
As important as this problem is dispersing a nanoparticle
in
a polymer and actually proving that it is well dispersed
is a grand challenge. Techniques based on Scanning probe
microscopy have sufficient resolution to visualize the
nanoparticles themselves but only the surface of the
material is imaged
and the interior may be quite different. Scanning probe
techniques also suffer from the fact that it is difficult
to extract
chemical information from the images. Electron microscopy
can enable us to look into the middle of a material, but
suffers from statistical sampling issues, occasional preparation
artifacts and beam damage.
This talk will explore several difficult problems or grand
challenges in the characterization of structure chemistry
and properties of nanomaterials and present our attempts
to combine multiple techniques across multiple length
scales to solve problems in this new area.
All seminars take place at 500 Technology Square (MIT
Building NE47), First Floor Seminar Room. Any member of
the MIT or Army communities is welcome to attend. For more
information, write to isn@mit.edu.
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