The New Nanofrontier Kristin Leutwyler

1. The New NanofrontierKristin Leutwyler - Presented by Ananthanarayanan Venkatachalam

2. Overview • Thoughts of current generation • Nanotechnology’s threat to world -Bill Joy, co-founder of Sun Microsystems. • Foresight Institute • Reports to show its promise • Conclusion

3. Thoughts of current generation • “It is staggeringly a small world below” - Dr. Richard Feynman • “In the year 2000,when they look back at this age, they will wonder why it was not until the year 1960, that any body began to move seriously in this direction.” • Inspire greater wonder in 40 years!! • Concern about the pace at which the Nanotechnology  - plenty of reports

4. Nanotechnology’s threat to the world • Nanotechnology ,the end of human species - Bill Joy, Wired • Nanotechnology - humans an endangered species • Ray Kurzweil • Rate of technological improvement  • Near–term possibility that humans = robots.

5. Nanotechnology’s threat to the world (cont’d) • The new Luddite challenge • Intelligent machines better than human beings. • High organized machines  no human effort • machines permitted  own decisions

6. Nanotechnology’s threat to the world (cont’d) • The new Luddite challenge (cont’d) • Impossible to guess how such machines work. • Fate of human race = mercy of the machines • Human race “drifts” dependence on machines

7. Nanotechnology’s threat to the world (cont’d) • The new Luddite challenge (cont’d) • Society and problems that face it • Machines  more and more intelligent • Machine – made decisions will bring better results than man made ones.

8. Nanotechnology’s threat to the world (cont’d) • The new Luddite challenge (cont’d) • Decisions necessary to keep the system running – complex. • human beings incapable of making them intelligently. • Machines will have effective control over humans. • Turning off the machine = suicide.

9. Nanotechnology’s threat to the world (cont’d) • ‘Nanotechnology introduces the risk that we might destroy the biosphere’ • Today’s solar cells could out–compete real plants. • Omnivorous ‘bacteria’ could out-compete real bacteria - reduces biosphere to dust in days. • Dangerous replicators.

10. Nanotechnology’s threat to the world (cont’d) • ‘Nanotechnology introduces the risk that we might destroy the biosphere’ • Nanotechnology threat – “gray goo” problem, Dr. Eric Drexler. • Goo - consists of legions of miniature assemblers. • The gray goo threat makes one thing perfectly clear: cannot afford replicating assemblers

11. Foresight Institute’s guidelines • Foresight institute’s goal • Policy • Foresight efforts - Development of guidelines for R & D

12. Principles Artificial replicators  capable of replication Evolution within the context of self-replicating system is discouraged Replicated information should be error free MNT device designs  proliferation Provide traceability of any replicating systems Foresight Institute’s guidelines

13. Principles (Cont’d) Developers should consider systematically the environmental consequences Industry self-regulation should be designed in whenever possible Distribution of molecular manufacturing development capability should be restricted Foresight Institute’s guidelines

14. Foresight Institute’s guidelines • Policy • Promoting understanding of nanotechnology and its effects. • Informing the public and decision makers. • Organizational base for addressing nanotechnology – related issues. • actively pursuing beneficial outcomes of nanotechnology.

15. Reports to show its promises!! • Galen Stucky – University of California, Santa Barbara. • Glassy materials with nanoscale pores, cages and channels. • Harry Dorn – Virginia Tech Chemist • New breed of metal containing fullerenes  nanoscale building blocks.

16. Reports to show its promises!! • Fullerenes • Before 1985 – six pure crystalline forms of carbon • In 1985, new form of carbon – buckyballs • 60 or 70 carbons could cluster together  cage – like molecules

17. Reports to show its promises!! • Fullerenes • molecular structure  soccer ball or the geodesic designs of Buckminster Fuller. • endohedral metallofullerenes replacement for Silicon in IC’s • Doping carbon with metal or metal oxides  small quantities of buckyballs, encapsulates 1-4 metal atoms.

18. Reports to show its promises!! Fullerenes – How do we make them?

19. Reports to show its promises!! • Twirling motors • Cornell nanobiotechnology center  power virus sized motors using ATP • Science – Carlo Montemagno – tested the first bimolecular motors, marrying inorganic nickel propellers to ATPase enzymes • “We have shown that hybrid nanodevices can be assembled, maintained and repaired using the physiology of life”

20. Reports to show its promises!! • Twirling motors (cont’d) • Nickel propellers measuring 750 nm long and 150 nm wide • Propellers self assembled with molecules of ATPase • Motor-propeller combination is mounted on 200 nm high, 80 nm wide nickel posts

21. Reports to show its promises!! • Twirling motors (cont’d) • ATPase broke atomic bonds in the ATP molecules • cranked rotor-like protein inside ATPase • CCD – propellers spun at a rate of 8 rev/sec in some cases continuing for 2.5 hours

22. Reports to show its promises!! • Twirling motors (cont’d) • 400 assembled units – 5 worked • Later batches – lost propellers others their test pedestals • Friendlier to use among delicate organic molecules and living cells

23. Reports to show its promises!! • Twirling motors (cont’d) • Remove harsh chemicals from final product • + computational and sensing functions • Replace ATP with light energy to fuel the bimolecular motors

24. Reports to show its promises!! • Microrobots • Jager – robotic arm, bilayer of gold and polypyrrole, particularly stable conjucated polymer • 670 micrometers long, an elbow, wrist and hand, with 2 – 4 fingers • electrochemical oxidation and reduction  pick 100 micrometer glass bead

25. Reports to show its promises!! • Dancing tin nanomotors • Tin dancing on copper • Camphor particles shimmy across the surface of water • finding ways to harness and choreograph the tin crystals’ movements  nanoshapes

26. Reports to show its promises!! • Dancing tin nanomotors (cont’d) • Schmid’s team  tin and copper morph into bronze • STM to obtain topographical map of the material’s surface • LEEM to watch the movements of tin on that surface

27. Reports to show its promises!! • Dancing tin nanomotors (cont’d) • Tin deposited on copper  two dimensional crystalline islands • Surf over copper’s surface, tin  copper • islands  bronze crystals, eject the copper atoms • bronze clumps cover the surface and tin islands dissolve

28. Reports to show its promises!! • Dancing tin nanomotors (cont’d) • naturally - occuring motor is very efficient • car – 0.1 hp/kg of its weight whereas tin – 0.3 hp/kg • “the challenge is to devise nanomotors whose motion can be controlled externally and can be refueled

29. Conclusion

30. References • www.sciam.com/explorations/2000 • www.foresight.org • www.globalideasbank.org • www.chemistry.vt.edu/chem-dept/dorn/buckyballs