Nanotechnology

Aim

The course has a straightforward aim to acquaint students with the whole concept of nano-science and technology, which comprises the fabrication and understanding of matter at the ultimate scale at which nature designs in molecular size. The course will explore several hot topics with strong application aspects, but it will not deal so much with details of the complicated physics, biology, and mathematics. The course will give the student an insight into the multidiciplinary nature of nanotechnology as well as its importance to a sustainable development and the UN global sustainability goals (SDG).

Content

The idea of this course is to introduce the world of nano-technology to the undergraduate students at an early stage before they have been specialized in different profiles. The course should give students a broad perspective and at the same time let them learn about some very recent developments of modern science and technology. Nano scale science and engineering has started and is expected to continue to produce strategic breakthroughs in technology. Nano-science has a strong multidisciplinary nature and it is developed at the intersection of traditional science and engineering, quantum mechanics, and most basic processes of life itself. Nano-technology encompasses how people harness the knowledge of nano-science to create materials, machines, and devices, which will fundamentally change the way that we live and work. Lectures to cover the following topics:

• Introduction of nano-technology;
• Nanotechnology and the UN Sustainable Development Goals;
• Size matters;
• Interlude I: the fundamental science behind nanotechnology;
• Interlude II: the tools of nano-science (tools for measuring nano-structures and tools to fabricate nano-structures);
• Optics and electronics;
• Sensors;
• Smart materials;
• Bio-medical applications;
• Energy;
• Environment and safety;
• Perspectives and future outlook.