WEEKLY MEMO, April 7, 2008 ********* 1. KUDOS ********* 1.1: Congratulations to ISAAC WILDESON (ECE/BNC), winner of one of the prestigious National Defense Science and Engineering Graduate (NDSEG) Fellowships. 1.2: WENSHAN CAI received one of the 2007 Chinese Government Awards for Outstanding Students Abroad; these awards are among the highest awards to recognize the academic achievements among Chinese students abroad. This award was established to encourage research excellence among Chinese overseas students across all fields of study. Each winner receives a special certificate along with a US$5000 cash award. ****************** 2. ANNOUNCEMENTS ****************** 2.1: *****2nd Annual BNC RESEARCH REVIEW,***** Monday, April 14th, 2008, 1:00PM, MRGN 121. Program to include TIM SANDS, “The Birck Nanotechnology Center – Progress, Opportunities, and Challenges”; EVGENII NARIMANOV, “Metamaterials for Future Photonics”; DONALD BERGSTROM, “Carbon Nanotubes as Nucleic Acid Carriers”; GERHARD KLIMECK, “nanoHUB – Future Cyberinfrastructure Serving over 60,000 Users Today”; JAYATHI MURTHY, “An Introduction to PRISM and MEMS Simulation”; and DAVID JANES, “Thin-Film Electronics Using Nanowire Transistors.” A POSTER REVIEW and SESSION will also be included in this year’s activities. Visit www.nano.purdue.edu <http://www.nano.purdue.edu> for the most up-to-date information regarding this year’s Annual Research Review. ******PARTICIPANT RECEPTION****** 5:30, Birck Atrium, 2nd floor: PIZZA, PIZZA, PIZZA 2.2: Purdue Spring Fest this weekend: April 12 and 13. 2.3: Card reader system: Work has begun on the installation of the BNC card reader system. This project will take several weeks and includes wiring each BNC lab door for card swipe entry. Researchers at Birck can expect to see electricians in their labs and in some cases may be asked to briefly suspend experiments as ceiling tiles are removed and wiring is run through the lab. Some cutting and grinding can also be expected as the card readers are mounted on each lab door. APRIL 7 – 11: installation will begin on the 2nd Floor West Lab Wing (Rooms 22XX). Depending on the speed of the work, a tentative schedule is set: — Mon & Tues (04/07 - 04/08): BRK 2261, 2277, 2283, 2217 — Wed & Thurs (04/09 - 04/10): BRK 2221, 2233, 2239 If you have any issues or concerns please contract Mary Jo or Mark Voorhis. 2.4: Keep our community refrigerator running J We had repair service out for the refrigerator in our kitchen this past week. Luckily, we do not have any mechanical problems at this time. One suggestion: please be sure that any items (i.e., plastic bags) do not come between the seal of the doors and the outside of the refrigerator. We should also be running on a power level of about 4; I believe we’ve been using 7. At the end of the semester, we will schedule a shut down and start up of this appliance that so many in our building use. ******************** 3. TOURS/VISITORS ******************** 3.1: Monday, April 7, 10:30: Chuck Wallrodt, ECE alumnus 3.2: Wednesday, April 9, 9:15AM: Dhiraj Malkani and Christopher Baldwin, RockPort Capital Partners 3.3: Wednesday, April 9, 11:15AM: Dr. Murali Sastry 3.4: Wednesday, April 9, 3:30PM: Dave Brown, Intel, ECE guest 3.5: Thursday, April 10, 2:00PM: Mr. Dick Heron, College of Agriculture guest 3.6: Friday, April 11, 8:30AM: Dr. John G. Gilligan, University Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Studies, Professor of Nuclear Engineering, North Carolina State University; and Dr. Charles Rutledge, Purdue University. 3.7: Friday, April 11, 2:00PM: Southwest Chicago Christian School 3.8: Friday, April 11, 2:30PM: Purdue Alumni Association guests 3.9: Saturday, April 12, all day: Springfest, Open House Tours ******************** 4. SEMINARS ******************** 4.1: Wednesday, April 9, 2008, 10:45 refreshments, 11:00 seminar, ARMS 1109: “Materials Issues in Supercritical Water Oxidation of Chemical Wastes,” by Ronald M. Latanision ABSTRACT: There is a need to destroy both military and civilian hazardous wastes and an urgency, mandated by public concern over the traditional waste handling methodologies, to identify safe and efficient alternative technologies. One very effective process for the destruction of such wastes is supercritical water oxidation (SCWO). By capitalizing on the properties of water above its critical point, this technology provides rapid and complete destruction of a wide variety of wastes. A major limitation to full scale commercialization of SCWO is the corrosion of the materials of construction of these engineering systems. In this presentation, forensic analysis of failures in nickel-based alloy preheater tubes exposed to methylene chloride feed solutions will be shown to provide a basis for understanding the thermodynamic conditions under which SCWO reactors can be operated successfully. BIO: Ronald M. Latanision is a Corporate Vice President and Director of Exponent’s Mechanics and Materials practice. Prior to joining Exponent, he was the Director of The H.H. Uhlig Corrosion Laboratory in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at M.I.T., and held joint faculty appointments in the Departments of Materials Science and Engineering, and Nuclear Engineering. He is now an Emeritus Professor at MIT. He is a member of the National Academy of Engineering; and a Fellow of ASM International, NACE International, and the AAAS. From 1983–1988, Dr. Latanision was the first holder of the Shell Distinguished Chair in Materials Science. He was a founder of Altran Materials Engineering Corporation, established in 1992, and led the Materials Processing Center at MIT as its Director from 1985 to 1991. In June of 2002, Dr. Latanision was appointed by President Bush to membership on the U.S. Nuclear Waste Technical Review Board. Dr. Latanision's research interests are focused largely in materials processing, and corrosion of materials in aqueous (ambient as well as high temperature and pressure) environments. He specializes in corrosion science and engineering with emphasis on materials selection for contemporary and advanced engineering systems and in failure analysis. His expertise extends to electrochemical systems and processing technologies, ranging from fuel cells and batteries to supercritical water power generation and waste destruction. Specific research interests include stress corrosion cracking, hydrogen embrittlement, water and ionic permeation through thin polymer films, photoelectrochemistry, and aging phenomena/life prediction in engineering materials and systems. Dr. Latanision is a member of the International Corrosion Council and serves as Co-Editor-in-Chief of Corrosion Reviews. 4.2: Wednesday, April 9, 2008, 3:30, MRGN 121: “Nanobiotechnology: A Different Perspective,” by Murali Sastry ABSTRACT: The study of the synthesis, exotic properties, assembly/packaging and potential commercial application of nanomaterials is an extremely important topic of research that is expected to have far-reaching global impact. The focus of my talk will be on an emerging branch of nanotechnology that derives its inspiration from biology. Recognizing that some of the most exquisite and highly functional nanomaterials are grown by biological systems (examples include silica by diatoms and magnetic nanoparticles by magnetotactic bacteria (1), many researchers have focused attention on understanding how inorganic materials are made by biological systems and attempting to replicate such processes in the lab. In my laboratory, we have investigated the use of plant organisms such as fungi in the synthesis of nanomaterials over a range of chemical compositions that include metals [2], metal sulfides (3) and oxides (4). An exciting development is the use of plant extracts in nanoparticle synthesis (5) wherein large concentrations of gold nanotriangles have been obtained that have potential application in cancer hyperthermia. Organisms such as fungi are not normally exposed to metal precursor stresses that they should be capable of a broad range of biochemical transformations to negate these stresses is useful in materials chemistry and throws up exciting possibilities. Recently, we have also shown that bacteria may be 'trained' to synthesize magnetite when challenged with suitable iron complexes under aerobic conditions (6). References: [1] Sarikaya, M. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA, 1999, 96, 14183; [2] Mukherjee, P et al., Angew. Chem. 2001, 40, 3585; [3] Ahmed, A. et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc, 2002, 124, 12108; [4] Bansal et al., Adv. Mater. 2005, 17 889; Bharde et al., Small 2006, 2 135; [5] Shankar, S.S. et al., Nature materials 2004, 3, 482; [6] Bharde et al., J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2005, 127, 9326. BIO: Dr Murali Sastry, chief scientist at the Tata Chemicals Innovation Centre, Pune, India, has an M.Sc. in Physics and a PhD (in thin film technology) from the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Madras (now Chennai, 1987). He was a postdoctoral fellow at the International Centre for Theoretical Physics at Trieste, Italy (1988-1991); visiting faculty at CNRS in Orsay, France (2001-2003) and at the University of Maryland at College Park, USA (1998-99); as well as a federation fellow at RMIT, Melbourne (2006) and DAE professor at Central University, Hyderabad (2006). Counted among the world's top 15 nanobiotechnologists, Dr. Sastry has close to 25 years of research experience. A true interdisciplinary scientist, he joined Tata Chemicals in 2005, after creating a centre for nanotechnology at the renowned National Chemical Laboratory (NCL), Pune. Having authored over 300 international publications, 10 chapters in books and 15 Indian and US patents, he has a number of national and international awards to his credit including India's most prestigious award in science, the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize in Chemistry (2003). Editor (Nanomaterials) for the Materials Research Bulletin(Elsevier), Dr. Sastry serves on the international advisory boards of seven leading chemistry journals, having earlier served on advisory boards for the Department of Biotechnology, the Department of Science and Technology, the Presidential Nanotechnology Committee and the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), Government of India. Dr. Sastry's current research interests include interfacing biologicals with inorganic nanomaterials, understanding biological process in their nanodimensions, developing new industrially relevant renewable materials and green processes, as well as ethical issues in application of nanomaterials. 4.3: Friday, April 11, 2008, 10:00AM, Pfendler Hall of Agriculture: “Building a New Planet,” Panel Discussion: Moira Gunn, Moderator; Kirk Alter, Hugh Hillhouse, Inez Hua, Valentine Moghadam, Robin Mills Ridgway, Paul Shepson, Jerry Shively, Panelists; www.purdue.edu/inauguration/events.php <http://www.purdue.edu/inauguration/events.php> 4.4: Friday, April 11, 2008, 10:00AM, ARMS B071: “Tiny Technologies for Huge Impacts on Health,” Panel Discussion: Tim Sands, Moderator; John Hertig, Joseph Irudayaraj, James Leary, Alyssa Panitch, Jenna Rickus, Masa Rao, Panelists; www.purdue.edu/inauguration/events.php <http://www.purdue.edu/inauguration/events.php> 4.4: Friday, April 11, 2008, 3:30 refreshments, 3:45 seminar, ARMS 1010: “Synthesis, Characterization, and Performance of Nanocrystalline Diamond Coatings for Micro End Mills,” Frank Pfefferkorn, Assistant Professor, Mechanical Engineering, Univ of Wisconsin-Madison ABSTRACT: Micro end milling is a method of creating net-shaped functional micro parts, micro molds, and prototypes with tools ranging from 5 to 500 mm diameter. This technology complements standard silicon-based microfabrication processes with its ability to directly produce true 3D structures with high accuracy, low cost, and short cycle time in most engineering materials. However, the small flexural stiffness, strength, hardness, and friction coefficient of the tool (usually tungsten carbide) limit the efficiency of machining. To enable a significant increase in productivity requires higher feedrates (mm/min) as well as longer and more predictable tool life. One method of improving the performance of micro end mills that is being investigated at UW-Madison will be presented: ultra-thin nanocrystalline diamond coatings. Most micro end mills are made of tungsten carbide (WC) with cobalt binder and have difficulty machining adhesive metals (e.g., aluminum and copper) and very hard materials (e.g., ceramics and high-silicon aluminum alloys). Evidence that thin diamond coatings can dramatically enhance the performance of micrometer-scale cutting tools will be presented. The approach for coating 300 mm diameter tungsten carbide (WC) micro end mills using a tailored seeding method and hot filament chemical vapor deposition (HFCVD) will be presented. This method results in uniform, conformal, and continuous diamond coatings less than 2 mm in both thickness and grain size with greater 90% sp3 (diamond) bonds. The performance of the uncoated and coated tools has been evaluated by dry machining channels in 6061-T6 aluminum. The test results demonstrate far lower tool wear and breakage, much lower adhesion of aluminum to the tool, and significantly lower cutting forces for the coated tools. The coatings achieve a more predictable surface finish and enable dry machining with little or no burr formation. The improved performance of the coated tools is a result of the superior tribological properties of fine-grained diamond against aluminum, specifically low friction, low adhesion, and low wear of the film. The method of NCD coating failure, due to delamination, will be presented and methods being investigated to mitigate it discussed. BIO: Frank Pfefferkorn is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Madison since 2003. He received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Purdue University in 2002 on the topic of laser-assisted machining of ceramics. Prior to his appointment in Madison, Frank was a Postdoctoral Research Associate in the Nanoscale Thermo-Fluids Laboratory at Purdue University. The goal of Frank’s research is to develop and apply a science-based understanding of manufacturing processes (heat transfer, material behavior, machinability, tribology, etc.) in order to increase performance and offer new and improved manufacturing tools to industry. He is studying NCD-coating micro end mills in collaboration with Robert Carpick (Penn) and Anirudha Sumant (Argonne). He also has active projects on laser-assisted micro end milling of metals and ceramics, laser micro polishing, laser-assisted friction stir welding, thermal efficiency of thermally-assisted manufacturing, heat transfer in micromechanical machining, and thermal control of friction stir welding. Frank’s research has been funded by the National Science Foundation, ONR, the State of Wisconsin, and industrial collaborators. Frank has received a Research Initiation Award and the 2007 Kuo K. Wang Outstanding Young Manufacturing Engineer Award from the Society of Manufacturing Engineers. **************** 5. OPPORTUNITIES **************** 5.1: Postdoctoral Position at PURDUE AVAILABLE on Photovoltaic Device Fabrication and Development Applications are invited for a postdoctoral position to work on the development of 3rd generation solar cells based on novel nanostructured materials recently patented by Purdue. The successful applicant will have a PhD in electrical engineering, materials science, chemistry or physics and should be motivated, independent, and creative. Prior experience with device fabrication and testing is sought. In addition, expertise in photovoltaics, light emitting diodes, or other optoelectronic devices is a plus but is not required. The Purdue technology has been licensed by private investors and a company is being formed. The initial appointment will be a one-year academic postdoctoral position, but based on performance and success, there will be an option to join the company and have equity in the company. To apply, please send a current CV that includes a list of your publications and the contact information for three references. Also, please indicate the earliest date you would be available. This information should be sent to Prof. Hugh W. Hillhouse (hugh@ecn.purdue.edu). 5.2: Society for Biological Engineering (SBE)’s 4th International Conference on Bioengineering and Nanotechnology (ICBN), cosponsored by the Science Foundation of Ireland and AIChE’s Nanoscale Science and Engineering Forum, will be held at the University College, Dublin, Ireland, on July 22-24, 2008. Deadline for abstract submissions is 15 April. Visit http://aiche.confex.com/aiche/ICBN08/cfp.cgi for additional information. 5.3: Possible seminar? Please contact me if you would be interested in learning about “Real-time In-situ Sizing of Nanoparticle Aerosols Using Differential Mobility Analysis.” ABSTRACT for proposed seminar: The benefits of sizing aerosolized submicrometer particles using differential mobility analysis have been well documented. The National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) has been using this method to measure 0.1 μm Standard Reference Material (SRM) particles for well over a decade [1]. This technique has unsurpassed accuracy, especially for nanometer sizes and has a reported uncertainty of approximately 1% of the particle size [2,3]. Lately, differential mobility analysis is finding increased use in the in-situ near real-time sizing of engineered nanoparticles synthesized by a variety of dry-synthesis (aerosol-based) processes like diffusion flame synthesis, spray pyrolysis, thermal plasma, microplasma synthesis, etc [3-7]. An in-situ measurement eliminates the need for sample collection for off-line analysis thus minimizing operator error and providing more consistent and repeatable results. Real-time measurement permits the user to follow dynamics of particle formation and growth in highly reacting flows, thus providing the necessary feedback to control particle size precisely. Scanning Mobility Particle SizerTM (SMPS) spectrometers integrate differential mobility analysis with condensation particle counting to provide near real-time (as fast as 1 min) size distribution of aerosolized particles in the size range of 2.5-1000 nm. This seminar provides a brief overview of the technologies, followed by a review of case studies in aerosol based nanoparticle synthesis. Additionally, a discussion on sampling challenges and remedial measures will be presented. Offered through TSI Incorporated, 500 Cordigan Road, Shoreview MN; contact Paul Leslie, paul.leslie@tsi.com