THE CINCINNATI SMART STRUCTURES BIO-NANOTECHNOLOGY LABORATORY

Current and Emerging Research Areas

Mark Schulz, Vesselin Shanov
Phone: (513) 556-4132; Email: Mark.J.Schulz@uc.edu Phone: (513) 556-2461; Email: vesselin.shanov@UC.Edu

(http://www.min.uc.edu/~mschulz/smartlab/smartlab.html) Collaborators UC Professors; Donglu Shi (CME), Jim Boerio (CME), David Mast (Physics) UC Staff; Douglas Hurd and Dave Breheim (Machinists and Design), Bo Westheider (Electronics) Other Universities: Mannur Sundaresan (NCA&TSU), Shankar Mall (AFIT) Industry: Chris Sloan (FirstNano), Don Bailey (OAI), Robert Bianco (Goodrich Corp) Students Suhasini Narsimhadevara, Phil Kang, Yun Yeo-Heung, Tony He, Sachin Jain, Atul Muskin, Vishal Shinde, Goutham Kirikera, Ramanand Gollapudi Student Collaborators Srinivas Subramaniam, Rob Gilliland April 18, 2004 Mechanical, Industrial and Nuclear Engineering - Chemical and Materials Engineering

THE CINCINNATI SMART STRUCTURES BIO-NANOTECHNOLOGY (SSBN) LAB

MISSION STATEMENT The SSBN Lab develops innovative smart materials, sensors, and active devices by intersecting the disciplines of engineering, nanotechnology, and biomedicine. The SSBN Lab is comprised of a Nanotube Synthesis Lab, a Nanoscale Materials Processing Lab, and a Smart Structures and NanoDevices Lab. The SSBN Lab is an exciting interdisciplinary learning environment for UG through Ph.D. level students. RESEARCH COMPETENCIES Smart Structures. Smart structures contain sensors, actuators and artificial intelligence and can respond in a human-like way to counteract loads, reduce vibration, change shape, and prevent their own degradation. Piezoelectric Active Fiber Composite sensors/actuators are built at the UC for use in smart structures. Structural Health Monitoring: An International Journal is managed from this laboratory. Biomimetics. This is the development of smart structures based on the principles of mimicking the structure and function of biological systems. An Artificial Neural System using continuous neuron sensors is being developed and commercialized for the real-time monitoring of acoustic emissions and dynamic strains generated by damage growth in large composite and metallic structures. Nanotechnology. Nanotechnology is the application of nanoscale materials. Nanocomposite materials are being developed that are self-sensing and self-actuating to improve the strength, reliability, and performance of mechanical and aerospace structures and systems. The Nanotube Synthesis Laboratory provides the raw materials (carbon nanotubes) needed to develop Smart Nanocomposite Materials. Bio-Nanotechnology. This is the logical integration of Nanoscale Precision with biomedicine. We are designing smart material systems and biosensors that may be highly sensitive and selective detectors of cancer, other diseases, and chemical agents. Mechanical, Industrial and Nuclear Engineering - Chemical and Materials Engineering

1. Carbon Nanotube Synthesis

Mechanical, Industrial and Nuclear Engineering - Chemical and Materials Engineering

Catalysts and Substrates for SWCNT Growth

(a) (b)

(c)

(a) Catalysts 1. FirstNano liquid catalyst 2. UC- Fe/MgO powder catalyst 3. Patterned silicon chip 4. Bulk SWCNT (b) Molybdenum boat (c) UC Fixture for growth experiments

Mechanical, Industrial and Nuclear Engineering - Chemical and Materials Engineering

ESEM Images of as Grown (left) and Purified Nanotubes (center and right)

TEM Images (rope (left) and coil (right))

Mechanical, Industrial and Nuclear Engineering - Chemical and Materials Engineering

2. Nanocomposites and Smart Materials

Study of Dispersion of Nanotubes in Water Epoxy Nanocomposite

Piezoresistive Sensor

Electrochemical Actuator

Mechanical, Industrial and Nuclear Engineering - Chemical and Materials Engineering

3. Nanodevice Concepts

Nanotube Array Building Brick For sensors and actuators

Nano-Tripod Actuator Building Brick

Biosensor

Structural Actuators V
1

Cd
Zp

Rs Rp

Rd

CNT Actuator Model V2

Cd

Rs Rp Reference Model

Rd

CNT self-sensing actuator

Active Catheter

Mechanical, Industrial and Nuclear Engineering - Chemical and Materials Engineering

4. Biomimetics
An Artificial Neural System for Structural Health Monitoring
Advantages
Highly Distributed Nerves for Sensing Massively Parallel Signal Processing A Passive System

Sensor Types
Acoustic Emission Dynamic Strain Corrosion

Generic Applications
Sensing temperature, light, sound, radiation, chemicals, biological agents

Mechanical, Industrial and Nuclear Engineering - Chemical and Materials Engineering

5. NEW SYNTHESIS RESEARCH

Growth of Patterned Arrays of MWCNT and Long Nanotubes and Ropes
SEM images (a,b,c) of nanotube synthesis by FirstNano using the EasyTube furnace; (a) aligned MWCNT grown on a silicon substrate by FirstNano, (b) 250 square by 130 micron tall blocks of aligned MWCNT grown using 5 nm of iron evaporated with a shadow mask on porous silicon and grown at 700 C in Ethylene, (c) 5 micron square MWCNT blocks grown to a high aspect ratio, (d) a Quadurpole Mass Spectrometer to improve nanotube growth, (e) a Vertical nanofurnace.

(e)

(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

Mechanical, Industrial and Nuclear Engineering - Chemical and Materials Engineering

6. APPLICATION IDEAS
Applications of MWCNT Patterned Arrays
Reinforcing composite materials Biosensors Acoustic Emission Sensors Sound Insulators Optical Filters Nanoscale Shell and Tube Heat Exchanger Particulate Filters

Applications of Long Parallel Nanotubes

Reinforcing composite materials, improving toughness, electrical conductivity, thermal conductivity, stealth, reducing permeability, dimensional stability, etc. Sensors for Structural Health Monitoring Actuators for repair of the human body

Applications of Compound and Inorganic Nanotubes

Piezoelectric nanoscale smart materials Boron Nitride nanotubes for radiation shielding (neutron absorption) Actuators for repair of the human body
Mechanical, Industrial and Nuclear Engineering - Chemical and Materials Engineering