Nanotechnology General Session Featuring Nanoscale Luminescent Materials 4

The book encompasses the nanoscale semiconductor field by amalgamating a broad multidisciplinary arena including applications for energy conservation, materials performance enhancement, electronic circuitry, video displays, lighting, photovoltaics, quantum computing, memory, chemo- and biosensors, pharmaceuticals and medical diagnostics inter alia. The first section presents a comprehensive introductory overview of the photophysics, instrumentation and experimental methodology of nanomaterial luminescence. In the second and third sections of the book, invited experts highlight more specific advanced research areas that have either shown potential for, or have already realized, significant impact on the day-to-day aspects of modern life and the world economy.

This volume presents a comprehensive perspective on the global scientific, technological, and societal impact of nanotechnology since 2000, and explores the opportunities and research directions in the next decade to 2020. The vision for the future of nanotechnology presented here draws on scientific insights from U.S. experts in the field, examinations of lessons learned, and international perspectives shared by participants from 35 countries in a series of high-level workshops organized by Mike Roco of the National Science Foundation (NSF), along with a team of American co-hosts that includes Chad Mirkin, Mark Hersam, Evelyn Hu, and several other eminent U.S. scientists. The study performed in support of the U.S. National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI) aims to redefine the R&D goals for nanoscale science and engineering integration and to establish nanotechnology as a general-purpose technology in the next decade. It intends to provide decision makers in academia, industry, and government with a nanotechnology community perspective of productive and responsible paths forward for nanotechnology R&D.

Nanotechnology is the creation and utilization of materials, devices, and systems through the control of matter on the nanometer-length scale, that is, at the level of atoms, molecules, and supramolecular structures. The essence of nanotechnology is the ability to work at these levels to generate larger structures with fundamentally new molecular organization. These "nanostructures," made with building blocks understood from first principles, are the smallest human-made objects, and they exhibit novel physical, chemical, and biological properties and phenomena. The aim of nanotechnology is to learn to exploit these properties and efficiently manufacture and employ the structures. Control of matter on the nanoscale already plays an important role in scientific disciplines as diverse as physics, chemistry, materials science, biology, medicine, engineering, and computer simulation. For example, it has been shown that carbon nanotubes are ten times as strong as steel with one sixth of the weight, and that nanoparticles can target and kill cancer cells. Nanoscale systems have the potential to make supersonic transport cost- effective and to increase computer efficiency by millions of times. As understanding develops of the way natural and living systems are governed by molecular behavior at nanometer scale, and as this understanding begins to be felt in science and medicine, researchers seek systematic approaches for nanoscale-based manufacturing of human- made products.

Nanotechnology is a vital new area of research and development addressing the control, modification and fabrication of materials, structures and devices with nanometre precision and the synthesis of such structures into systems of micro- and macroscopic dimensions. Future applications of nanoscale science and technology include motors smaller than the diameter of a human hair and single-celled organisms programmed to fabricate materials with nanometer precision. Miniaturisation has revolutionised the semiconductor industry by making possible inexpensive integrated electronic circuits comprised of devices and wires with sub-micrometer dimensions. These integrated circuits are now ubiquitous, controlling everything from cars to toasters. The next level of miniaturisation, beyond sub-micrometer dimensions into nanoscale dimensions (invisible to the unaided human eye) is a booming area of research and development. This is a very hot area of research with large amounts of venture capital and government funding being invested worldwide, as such Nanoscale Science and Technology has a broad appeal based upon an interdisciplinary approach, covering aspects of physics, chemistry, biology, materials science and electronic engineering. Kelsall et al present a coherent approach to nanoscale sciences, which will be invaluable to graduate level students and researchers and practising engineers and product designers.

Nanoscale science and technology, often referred to as "nanoscience" or "nanotechnology," are science and engineering enabled by our relatively new ability to manipulate and characterize matter at the level of single atoms and small groups of atoms. This capability is the result of many developments in the last two decades of the 20th century, including inventions of scientific instruments like the scanning tunneling microscope. Using such tools, scientists and engineers have begun controlling the structure and properties of materials and systems at the scale of 10?9 meters, or 1/100,000 the width of a human hair. Scientists and engineers anticipate that nanoscale work will enable the development of materials and systems with dramatic new properties relevant to virtually every sector of the economy, such as medicine, telecommunications, and computers, and to areas of national interest such as homeland security. Indeed, early products based on nanoscale technology have already found their way into the marketplace and into defense applications. In 1996, as the tremendous scientific and economic potential of nanoscale science and technology was beginning to be recognized, a federal interagency working group formed to consider creation of a national nanotechnology initiative (NNI). As a result of this effort, around $1 billion has been directed toward NNI research since the start of FY 2001. At the request of officials in the White House National Economic Council and agencies that are participating in NNI, the National Research Council (NRC) agreed to review the NNI. The Committee for the Review of the National Nanotechnology Initiative was formed by the NRC and asked to consider topics such as the current research portfolio of the NNI, the suitability of federal investments, and interagency coordination efforts in this area.

This book is meant to serve as a textbook for beginners in the field of nanoscience and nanotechnology. It can also be used as additional reading in this multifaceted area. It covers the entire spectrum of nanoscience and technology: introduction, terminology, historical perspectives of this domain of science, unique and widely differing properties, advances in the various synthesis, consolidation and characterization techniques, applications of nanoscience and technology and emerging materials and technologies.