Once again the University of Massachusetts has been spotlighted for its science and technology prowess among research institutions. Two separate teams of researchers have received grants from the National Science Foundation for furthering the progress and study of nanotechnology.
Nanotechnology involves the creation of new materials or devices with highly specialized properties or uses by controlling the assembly of building blocks as small as a billionth of a meter, according to a UMass press release.
The two teams will be studying different aspects of this groundbreaking technology. One group will be looking at developing arrays of nanowires that could eventually lead to ultra fine resolutions on computer screens. The other will be studying the formation of materials with pores of molecular dimensions, which are currently used in chemical processes such as catalysis and gas separation.
“A year and a half ago, people in the NSF and other federal agencies realized that they’re all sorts of neat things being invented with nanotechnology,” Mark Tuominen, a physics professor and lead Principle Investigator for one of the teams, said. “The US should support more research to keep the US ahead in the world.”
Joining Tuominen on his team are Thomas Russel from the Polymer Science department, Jaques Penelle and Tom McCarthy of the science and engineering department, and Vince Rotello from the Chemistry department. Six graduate students from different science fields who have yet to be chosen also will assist them.
These particular scientists have been working together for the last three years. They had a similar grant from the NSF that started the project. “The new team grant allows us to take it to the next level,” Tuominen said.
Tuominen’s team will focus on nanofabricaton-the science of developing structures so small that they can only be seen with high-magnification electron microscopes. They hope to make nanostructures by self-assembly that form arrays of magnetic nanowires patterned together to make a stencil. Those stencils will then be used for many purposes, such as the storage of computer data.
“By using [self-assembly], we’re mimicking what nature does, like how a cell membrane is put together,” Tuominen said. “The way data is stored on a computer is magnetically. We’ll have an array [of nanomagnets], up to one trillion on every square inch, which may allow more data on a disk.”
The arrays can be to create extremely concentrated storage of data, such as the storing of 25 full-length, DVD-quality movies on a disc the size of a quarter. The team hopes that with more development, the technology will be ready within five to 10 years.
“We use that same polymer stencil to grow wires to be used for field emission display property,” Tuominen said. “The display will be thin as paper, cheaper to make than today’s laptops. [It’s only] five to 10 years in the future. We’re trying to invent ways to bring about production like this.”
The other research team is lead by Peter Monson and Michael Tsapatsis of the chemical engineering department and Scott Auerbach of the chemistry department. They are working in conjunction with Dionisios Vlachos and Raul Lobo from the University of Delaware. Other UMass team members include Efrosini Kokkoli and Jorn Sherman of chemical engineering and Murugappan Muthukumar of polymer science and engineering.
This group will rely on laboratory experiments and theory to study nonporous solids, according to the press release. Nanoporous solids are materials with regular, perfectly sized pores that serve as precise filters, allowing some molecules to pass through, while screening others out. The team plans to explore how tiny building blocks assemble to form crystalline solids and they can be used to form new materials with advanced properties.
This technology holds the potential for future development of extremely precise lasers, sensitive sensors, and small-scale optical and electronic devices. It also has possible implications in the petrochemical industry, which relies on nanoporous solids for catalysis and separation.
The two grants will give approximately $2,250,00 to the teams. Tuominen’s team will receive $1,250,000 over five years, whereas Monson’s team will receive $1 million over four years. Many schools vied for the NSF’s attention, but it was the science going on at UMass that finally brought the money in.
“Many other groups tried, but our university got the grants,” Tuominen said. “That says a lot about the work that’s going on here at UMass Amherst.”
Every other week, the Nanoscale Interdisciplinary Research Team (NIRT) meets to discuss the progress and learn about what the other departments do. According to Tuominen, having team members from different science departments in the university brings experiences and perspectives to the project that help everyone learn more about it.
“You basically need all these things to be integrated to be able to make it,” Tuominen said. “It makes sense, it’s exactly what goes on in a company-bring people together to solve problems as a system. It’s essential to bring people together.”
Both projects not only bring together faculty from diverse backgrounds, they also have substantial educational components. They create new graduate courses, industrial internships for graduate and postdoctoral students, and engaging undergraduates in the research process.
“We’re trying to go further to create useful things,” Tuominen said. “Invent stuff here at UMass and then teach other about it so it can really be used.
“There’s a lot of learning going on, but that’s what research is all about.”
