Nanotechnology

[CerebralEcstasy]

Given that I know very little of this particular science, I thought I might ask if there are any here who are in the field and if so, what is your opinion of the current work being done.

 

What personality traits make a good researcher in this particular field. I've been accepted to a nanotechnology systems program, and while it incorporates the science courses I've done to date - I'd like to hear from someone actually working in the field if possible.

[CerebralEcstasy]

Wow, 95 views and 0 replies...

 

I feel like the fat kid who gets picked last...

 

Guess I'll let y'all know what it's like when I get started and finish. LOL

[Donk]

Wow, 95 views and 0 replies...

 

I feel like the fat kid who gets picked last...

 

Guess I'll let y'all know what it's like when I get started and finish. LOL

I was one of the views.

 

Saw the thread title... thought "ah - I'd like to learn something about nanotechnology"... opened it up and realised you were saying the same thing :)

 

I'd guess most of the other non-responders are like-minded. Nothing personal - just that you asked a question I can't answer. So I didn't.

 

Good luck with your studies, then come back and tell us all about it :)

[Qfwfq]

I don't know much about it either. Recently I heard that a professor at my old physics dep't was giving a talk about the topic so I went. He talked mostly about nonaparticles and a few effects, nothing so terribly, overwhelmingly complicated or difficult for a dumb phys grad like me. At the end of the talk, which was organized mainly for the students, he also said that he's been working with less and less paid staff, due to lack of funding. :)

 

I've been accepted to a nanotechnology systems program...

That's a great thing!!!!!!! ;) Very fortunate. :)

 

Alas, considering the final part of that guy's talk, I doubt I'll be as fortunate as you. If you've done the right courses, my only advice is to not worry too much, just do your best. :D I'd say personality traits would be much the same as for many fields of research, especially those on things that aren't directly visible.

[Moontanman]

I've been accepted to a nanotechnology systems program, and while it incorporates the science courses I've done to date - I'd like to hear from someone actually working in the field if possible.

 

I am also one of the viewers, I was waiting to see if anyone would weigh in on this. I have lots of opinions but no practical knowledge about he subject. I've always felt like the potential is hyped beyond any possible realization but I have little real knowledge about it. Con grats on acceptance, please keep us updated on your progress and maybe you can tell us what Nano-technology is all about.

[IDMclean]

I'm interested in working with nanotechnology as part of my graduate studies in artificial intelligence and life forms. What program and where did you get accepted into? One of the few programs I know of is in Pennsylvania.

[CerebralEcstasy]

I am also one of the viewers, I was waiting to see if anyone would weigh in on this. I have lots of opinions but no practical knowledge about he subject. I've always felt like the potential is hyped beyond any possible realization but I have little real knowledge about it. Con grats on acceptance, please keep us updated on your progress and maybe you can tell us what Nano-technology is all about.

 

I had read much the same thing on another blog, and they were comparing it to the hype surrounding virtual reality. (if memory serves)

 

I was extremely skeptical myself at first, and really weighed in on whether or not I wanted to give up my day job and go at this full time. I'm newly married and I've asked the new husband to be the sole provider during this time - I don't want to end up with some really expensive piece of paper and have no job prospects at the end of it.

 

I figure though, if I take two years off, it's not going to impact the current job market I'm in and there's always menial labour no one else wants to do.

 

So whatever happens, I know I'll land on my feet - cause that's just how I am. Pessimistic to a fault, expecting that anything and everything will go wrong, so I always have a contingency plan.

 

Hopefully I can bring back some interesting news regarding the field. My personal interests lead me to believe I'll end up in a lab somewhere working on tumor specific drug delivery or something of the like...

[CerebralEcstasy]

I'm interested in working with nanotechnology as part of my graduate studies in artificial intelligence and life forms. What program and where did you get accepted into? One of the few programs I know of is in Pennsylvania.

 

I was accepted into a nanotechnology systems program offered through a technological institute here in Canada. It's the first 'diploma' of its kind, and will be partnered with the University of Alberta and other research centres in Edmonton.

 

The University of Alberta developed the National Institute of Nanotechnology (NINT) back in 2001 and it piqued my interest then, but it wasn't a practical thought at the time. National Institute for Nanotechnology - NINT - NRC-CNRC

 

I hope I can leave this link here for you to see, as it gives a comprehensive overview of what Alberta considers to be the focal point regarding nanotech research.

 

Also interesting to note, many comments that I've been seeing across the board (not here, but rather in many articles I've read) is that there is a lack of properly trained individuals to do the work.

 

I hope this helps...

[belovelife]

Nano

 

well carbon nanotube production ( Nickle colbalt process )

or dissolve in water, magneically squish to atom thick, the CO2

nano laser evap water, build from there

 

I have studied independantly for a while

this idea got developed, and it worked

 

Good luck, this is the future of many areas

[CerebralEcstasy]

Nano

 

well carbon nanotube production ( Nickle colbalt process )

or dissolve in water, magneically squish to atom thick, the CO2

nano laser evap water, build from there

 

I have studied independantly for a while

this idea got developed, and it worked

 

Good luck, this is the future of many areas

 

Thank you belove.

 

I'm currently in week 2 of HELL. Well hell if I weren't someone who loves a challenge and loves to learn. Currently I am enrolled in seven core courses:

 

Microbiology

Inorganic Chemistry

Intro to Nanotechnology and Ethics

Mathematics for nanotechnologists

Physics for nanotechnologists

Digital Systems

Electro Mag and DC/AC

 

Digi Systems, Electromag, and Inorganic Chemistry also have labs....

 

 

Each of these courses is compressed, and is paced toward someone who would normally complete these types of courses I believe in a 30 week period. I've already had several assignments due (with another four math, digi systems, physics, intro to nano due between tomorrow and Monday). I wrote an Inorganic Chem test this afternoon, and we've covered five chapters in less than a week, with another test scheduled in Microbiology for mid next week.

 

What I have learned so far about Nanotechnology, is that it's basically a buzz word, and that work on smaller scales have already been happening, but it hasn't received the kind of recognition that it deserved. An interesting article called 'There's Plenty of Room at the Bottom' is thought to been the 'birth' of Nanotechnology, a talk which was given in the 50's by Richard Feynman.

 

Currently there are two forms of Nanotechnology it would seem. One termed 'Hard Nanotechnology' and the other being 'Soft Nanotechnology'. Hard Nanotechnology seems to be detrimental in some sense, with the potential to backfire in our proverbial faces - though not without some incredible potential gain. Soft Nanotechnology focuses on a bottom up approach where materials that are already in existence are used to create new ways of doing things on a smaller scale. It is in soft nanotechnology that my interests lie.

 

Anyhow, I've stolen about 15 minutes of precious time that I should be using to review my inorganic lab, so I'd best be getting on with it, otherwise I may fall even further behind than I already perceive myself to be.

 

I probably won't check back until December (maybe) as I may have a few days off in which to actually breathe.

 

'Slowly going insane, one nanosecond at a time',

 

Cerebrally Challenged

[maddog]

... I've been accepted to a nanotechnology systems program, and while it incorporates the science courses I've done to date ...

 

Great. Like Qfwfq, I do not work in this field. Though I have some ideas regarding nanotubes and semiconducting processes. I wish you the greatest success.

I have also heard the Carnegie Mellon University (CMU) here in Pittsburgh has a fine Nanotechnology program. I have considered taking some grad course even

if I don't have a current program at the moment.

 

maddog

[CerebralEcstasy]

Hello Maddog,

 

I'm knee deep in finals at the moment for my third semester. I would highly encourage you to take coursework in it, as I truly believe that advances in the field hold answers to a lot of issues we're currently struggling with respect to technology. That's not to say there won't be issues, the technology is widely accepted, but we should exercise caution too.

 

What little I know about nanotechnology (and that's truly how I feel about it, I've just barely scratched the surface) and yet I look back at how much I've learned. I also have a whole new level of appreciation for the electronic gadgetry around me, my television display (I've made LCD in the lab just this past week with the combination of 3 different chemicals and the process was not lost on me). I've made a solar cell out of raspberry juice, Ti0₂and isopropyl alcohol (if memory serves), whereby a small 3 cm square area kicked the *** of a commercial solar cell with respect to power production.

 

I've also created some PDMS stamps, which can be used in lab on a chip production. Lab on a chip is helping to make advances in the area of medicine.

 

I loved chemistry and biology beforehand, but now adding what I know about nanoproperties to these two areas, I have ideas literally screaming through my head about what could potentially be done with them. One I know I will never probably be able to build, but I have been thinking of a metabolic biosensor - an electronic device that is capable of monitoring the metabolic function of certain cells, ovarian cancer kills women, because there are no symptoms we can detect until it's too late. If I know the body as I think I do, I am 100% sure that the body is sending out all sorts of chemical responses/signals that WE could tap into if we had the technology to do so.

 

HTCC - a chitosan based nanoparticle (non toxic, biologically friendly etc) is being investigated in clinical trials as we speak. It is capable of being loaded with drugs like the parathyroid hormone 1-34, for use in osteoporosis. Doesn't sound like much does it? However, in Canada alone there are over 2 million sufferers who take pills on a weekly basis. This nanoparticulate entity will replace that pill, and allow for them to take it maybe once or twice every year/two years. Given that we're on a publicly funded healthcare system, the potential to increase the standard of living for these patients is PHENOMENAL. Both men and women suffer from it, but men tend to die from it. People think, "Oh, it's just bones weakening", but when you talk to an elderly person who took a little spill and they broke their entire hip, and they live alone - you start to think differently.

 

It gives them a means to be more independent longer, which means less money spent out on long term care facilities and so forth. It's a wide reaching impact.

 

Anyhow, I should be reviewing notes for my final on Monday. I have WAY more to say on this subject, but I haven't got the time!

 

I'll check back next semester when I'm using biochemistry to build these little bastages myself!

[CerebralEcstasy]

I never did find the time to check back, the program just kept getting more and more intense (what else could I expect, considering they crammed a 3 or 4 year program into 2 years.) Fast forward to several months past my graduation date, I am employed now in the organic photovoltaics field. I am a technician who operates a thermal evaporator, an AM 1.5G solar simulator and I am fabricating devices based on publications available, and adding my thoughts and ideas to them. It is a wildly interesting field, with a load of journals to be read. It is my understanding that there were 2,100 papers published in 2010 alone, this doesn't even cover all of the years previous. With another 2200 or more to be read for 2011.

 

Reading and understanding the journals comprises a lot of my work, and there have been times where I have wondered what it is I was doing, and how much easier it would be to just go back to something familiar. I feel stupid on a daily basis *laughs*.

 

Currently there are several types of solar cells, the commercial Si cell which has efficiencies of almost 25%, referred to as 1G technology in the solar cell community. There are thin film cells comprised of CIGS (Copper, Indium, Gallium, Selenide)known as 2G, and then the field which I am in.

 

Which is broken down further into different types of organic cells:

Bulk heterojunction (BHJ) PV

Dye Sensitized Solar Cells (DSSC)

Block Copolymer

Tandem solar cells, comprised of either inorganic/organic pairings, or straight up organic pairings

 

I know there are more, I am just not well versed in all of them. Nanotechnology will play a role in this field, due to polymers that will be created, or have been created, and being able to see to the nanoscale allows us to make educated guesses as to how a performance of a cell or device might be improved.

 

Recently I read about two interesting 'breakthroughs' in the field, one of which comes from MIT who changed the physical orientation of how Si solar cells are stacked and recorded better collection of light, the other comes from a company out of Germany called Heliatek who has developed an oligomer/fullerene combination to come up with the best OPV I have read about to date with a power conversion efficiency of 10.7%, and predicts based on physics calculations that the efficiency could rise to as much as 15%. I've been looking for the journals to check out the work, but it would seem that it has not become available yet.

 

The education that I took was incredibly diverse, as they prepared me for work in a variety of fields. All of which are reaching out toward the benefits of nanotechnology. Understanding how atoms work on the nanoscale allows for interesting possibilities that haven't been thought of yet.

Edited October 3, 2012 by CerebralEcstasy

[CraigD]

Welcome back, CerebralEcstacy! :)

 

You totally rock, and I envy you. :(