1. Write Importance of carbon Nanotubes. What are its importance?

Carbon Nano tubes are very thin lightweight hollow tubes made up of carbon atoms. A
carbon nanotube is like a sheet of graphite that is rolled into a cylinder, with distinctive
hexagonal latticework making up the sheet. Carbon nanotubes are extremely small; the
diameter of one carbon nanotube is one nanometer, which is one ten-thousandth
(1/10,000) the diameter of a human hair. Carbon nanotubes can be produced to varying
lengths.
Carbon nanotubes are classified according to their structures: single-wall nanotubes
(SWNTs), double-wall nanotubes (DWNTs), and multi-wall nanotubes (MWNTs). The
different structures have individual properties that make the nanotubes appropriate for
different applications. Because of their unique mechanical, electrical, and thermal
properties, carbon nanotubes present exciting opportunities for scientific research and
industrial and commercial applications.
Advantages of Carbon Nanotubes
Carbon nanotubes have a number of valuable and unique properties, including:

High thermal and electrical conductivity

Optical properties

Flexibility

Increased Stiffness

High tensile strength (100 times stronger than steel per unit of weight)

Light weight

Range of electro-conductivity

Ability to be manipulated yet remain strong

When applied to products, these properties provide tremendous advantages. For example, when
used in polymers, bulk carbon nanotubes can improve the electrical, thermal, and electrical
properties of the products.
Applications and Uses
Today, carbon nanotubes find application in many different products, and researchers continue to
explore creative new applications.

Current applications include:

Bicycle components

Wind turbines

Flat panel displays

Scanning probe microscopes

Sensing devices

Marine paints

Sports equipment, such as skis, baseball bats, hockey sticks, archery arrows, and
surfboards

Electrical circuitry

Batteries with longer lifetime

Electronics

Future uses of carbon nanotubes may include:

Clothing (stab proof and bulletproof)

Semiconductor materials

Spacecraft

Space elevators

Solar panels

Cancer treatment

Touch screens

Energy storage

Optics

Radar

Biofuel

LCDs

Submicroscopic test tubes

While high production costs currently limit commercial applications, the possibilities for new
production methods and applications are encouraging. As understanding of carbon nanotubes
expands, so will their uses. Because of their unique combination of important properties, carbon
nanotubes have the potential for revolutionizing not only daily life but also scientific exploration
and healthcare.
The strength and flexibility of carbon nanotubes makes them of potential use in controlling other
nanoscale structures, which suggests they will have an important role in nanotechnology
engineering. The highest tensile strength of an individual multi-walled carbon nanotube has been
tested to be 63 GPa.[43] Carbon nanotubes were found in Damascus steel from the 17th century,
possibly helping to account for the legendary strength of the swords made of it.[160][161] Recently,
several studies have highlighted the prospect of using carbon nanotubes as building blocks to
fabricate three-dimensional macroscopic (>1mm in all three dimensions) all-carbon devices.
Lalwani et al. have reported a novel radical initiated thermal crosslinking method to fabricated
macroscopic, free-standing, porous, all-carbon scaffolds using single- and multi-walled carbon
nanotubes as building blocks.[13] These scaffolds possess macro-, micro-, and nano- structured
pores and the porosity can be tailored for specific applications. These 3D all-carbon
scaffolds/architectures maybe used for the fabrication of the next generation of energy storage,
supercapacitors, field emission transistors, high-performance catalysis, photovoltaics, and
biomedical devices and implants.

Biomedical
Researchers from Rice University and State University of New York - Stony Brook have shown
that the addition of low weight % of carbon nanotubes can lead to significant improvements in
the mechanical properties of biodegradable polymeric nanocomposites for applications in tissue
engineering including bone,[162][163][164] cartilage,[165] muscle[166] and nerve tissue.[163][167] Dispersion
of low weight % of graphene (~0.02 wt.%) results in significant increases in compressive and
flexural mechanical properties of polymeric nanocomposites. Researchers at Rice University,
Stony Brook University, Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre and University of
California, Riverside have shown that carbon nanotubes and their polymer nanocomposites are
suitable scaffold materials for bone tissue engineering [14][158][168] and bone formation.[169][170]
In November 2012 researchers at the American National Institute of Standards and Technology
(NIST) proved that single-wall carbon nanotubes may help protect DNA molecules from damage
by oxidation.[171]

A highly effective method of delivering carbon nanotubes into cells is Cell squeezing, a highthroughput vector-free microfluidic platform for intracellular delivery developed at the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the labs of Robert S. Langer.[172]
Carbon nanotubes have furthermore been grown inside microfluidic channels for chemical
analysis, based on electrochromatography. Here, the high surface-area-to-volume ratio and high
hydrophobicity of CNTs are used in order to greatly decrease the analysis time of small neutral
molecules that typically require large bulky equipment for analysis.[173][174]

Structural
Because of the carbon nanotube's superior mechanical properties, many structures have been
proposed ranging from everyday items like clothes and sports gear to combat jackets and space
elevators.[175] However, the space elevator will require further efforts in refining carbon nanotube
technology, as the practical tensile strength of carbon nanotubes must be greatly improved.[45]
For perspective, outstanding breakthroughs have already been made. Pioneering work led by Ray
H. Baughman at the NanoTech Institute has shown that single and multi-walled nanotubes can
produce materials with toughness unmatched in the man-made and natural worlds.[176][177]

Carbon nanotubes being spun to form a yarn, CSIRO

Carbon nanotubes are also a promising material as building blocks in hierarchical composite
materials given their exceptional mechanical properties (~1 TPa in modulus, and ~100 GPa in
strength). Initial attempts to incorporate CNTs into hierarchical structures (such as yarns, fibres
or films[178]) has led to mechanical properties that were significantly lower than these potential
limits. Windle et al. have used an in situ chemical vapor deposition (CVD) spinning method to
produce continuous CNT yarns from CVD-grown CNT aerogels.[179][180] CNT yarns can also be
manufactured by drawing out CNT bundles from a CNT forest and subsequently twisting to form
the fibre (draw-twist method, see picture on right). The Windle group have fabricated CNT yarns
with strengths as high as ~9 GPa at small gage lengths of ~1 mm, however, strengths of only
about ~1 GPa were reported at the longer gage length of 20 mm.[181][182] The reason why fibre
strengths have been low compared to the strength of individual CNTs is due to a failure to
effectively transfer load to the constituent (discontinuous) CNTs within the fibre. One potential
route for alleviating this problem is via irradiation (or deposition) induced covalent inter-bundle
and inter-CNT cross-linking to effectively 'join up' the CNTs.[183] Espinosa et al. developed high
performance DWNT-polymer composite yarns by twisting and stretching ribbons of randomly
oriented bundles of DWNTs thinly coated with polymeric organic compounds. These DWNT-

polymer yarns exhibited an unusually high energy to failure of ~100 Jg1 (comparable to one of
the toughest natural materials spider silk[184]), and strength as high as ~1.4 GPa.[185] Effort is
ongoing to produce CNT composites that incorporate tougher matrix materials, such as Kevlar,
to further improve on the mechanical properties toward those of individual CNTs.
Because of the high mechanical strength of carbon nanotubes, research is being made into
weaving them into clothes to create stab-proof and bulletproof clothing. The nanotubes would
effectively stop the bullet from penetrating the body, although the bullet's kinetic energy would
likely cause broken bones and internal bleeding.[186]

Electrical circuits
Nanotube-based transistors, also known as carbon nanotube field-effect transistors (CNTFETs),
have been made that operate at room temperature and that are capable of digital switching using
a single electron.[187] However, one major obstacle to realization of nanotubes has been the lack
of technology for mass production. In 2001 IBM researchers demonstrated how metallic
nanotubes can be destroyed, leaving semiconducting ones behind for use as transistors. Their
process is called "constructive destruction," which includes the automatic destruction of
defective nanotubes on the wafer.[188] This process, however, only gives control over the
electrical properties on a statistical scale.
The potential of carbon nanotubes was demonstrated in 2003 when room-temperature ballistic
transistors with ohmic metal contacts and high-k gate dielectric were reported, showing 2030x
higher ON current than state-of-the-art Si MOSFETs. This presented an important advance in the
field as CNT was shown to potentially outperform Si. At the time, a major challenge was ohmic
metal contact formation. In this regard, palladium, which is a high-work function metal was
shown to exhibit Schottky barrier-free contacts to semiconducting nanotubes with diameters
>1.7 nm.[189][190]
The first nanotube integrated memory circuit was made in 2004. One of the main challenges has
been regulating the conductivity of nanotubes. Depending on subtle surface features a nanotube
may act as a plain conductor or as a semiconductor. A fully automated method has however been
developed to remove non-semiconductor tubes.[191]
Another way to make carbon nanotube transistors has been to use random networks of them.[192]
By doing so one averages all of their electrical differences and one can produce devices in large
scale at the wafer level.[193] This approach was first patented by Nanomix Inc.[194] (date of original
application June 2002[195]). It was first published in the academic literature by the United States
Naval Research Laboratory in 2003 through independent research work. This approach also
enabled Nanomix to make the first transistor on a flexible and transparent substrate.[196][197]
Large structures of carbon nanotubes can be used for thermal management of electronic circuits.
An approximately 1 mmthick carbon nanotube layer was used as a special material to fabricate
coolers, this material has very low density, ~20 times lower weight than a similar copper
structure, while the cooling properties are similar for the two materials.[198]

In 2013, researchers demonstrated a Turing-complete prototype micrometer-scale computer.[199]

[200][201]
Carbon nanotube transistors as logic-gate circuits with densities comparable to modern
CMOS technology has not yet been demonstrated.

Electrical cables and wires

Wires for carrying electric current may be fabricated from pure nanotubes and nanotube-polymer
composites. It has already been demonstrated that carbon nanotube wires can successfully be
used for power or data transmission.[202] Recently small wires have been fabricated with specific
conductivity exceeding copper and aluminum;[203][204] these cables are the highest conductivity
carbon nanotube and also highest conductivity non-metal cables. Recently, composite of carbon
nanotube and copper have been shown to exhibit nearly one hundred times higher currentcarrying-capacity than pure copper or gold.[205] Significantly, the electrical conductivity of such a
composite is similar to pure Cu. Thus, this Carbon nanotube-copper (CNT-Cu) composite
possesses the highest observed current-carrying capacity among electrical conductors. Thus for a
given cross-section of electrical conductor, the CNT-Cu composite can withstand and transport
one hundred times higher current compared to metals such as copper and gold.

Actuators
Main article: Carbon nanotube actuators
The exceptional electrical and mechanical properties of carbon nanotubes have made them
alternatives to the traditional electrical actuators for both microscopic and macroscopic
applications. Carbon nanotubes are very good conductors of both electricity and heat, and they
are also very strong and elastic molecules in certain directions.

Batteries
Carbon nanotubes' (CNTs) exciting electronic properties have shown promise in the field of
batteries, where typically they are being experimented as a new electrode material, particularly
the anode for lithium ion batteries. This is due to the fact that the anode requires a relatively high
reversible capacity at a potential close to metallic lithium, and a moderate irreversible capacity,
observed thus far only by graphite-based composites, such as CNTs. They have shown to greatly
improve capacity and cyclability of lithium-ion batteries, as well as the capability to be very
effective buffering components, alleviating the degradation of the batteries that is typically due
to repeated charging and discharging. Further, electronic transport in the anode can be greatly
improved using highly metallic CNTs.[206]
More specifically, CNTs have shown reversible capacities from 300 to 600 mAhg1, with some
treatments to them showing these numbers rise to up to 1000 mAhg1.[207] Meanwhile, graphite,
which is most widely used as an anode material for these lithium batteries, has shown capacities
of only 320 mAhg1. By creating composites out of the CNTs, scientists see much potential in
taking advantage of these exceptional capacities, as well as their excellent mechanical strength,
conductivities, and low densities.[206]

Paper batteries
A paper battery is a battery engineered to use a paper-thin sheet of cellulose (which is the major
constituent of regular paper, among other things) infused with aligned carbon nanotubes.[208] The
potential for these devices is great, as they may be manufactured via a roll-to-roll process, which
would make it very low-cost, and they would be lightweight, flexible, and thin. In order to
productively use paper electronics (or any thin electronic devices), the power source must be
equally thin, thus indicating the need for paper batteries. Recently, it has been shown that
surfaces coated with CNTs can be used to replace heavy metals in batteries.[209] More recently,
functional paper batteries have been demonstrated, where a lithium-ion battery is integrated on a
single sheet of paper through a lamination process as a composite with Li4Ti5O12 (LTO) or
LiCoO2 (LCO). The paper substrate would function well as the separator for the battery, where
the CNT films function as the current collectors for both the anode and the cathode. These
rechargeable energy devices show potential in RFID tags, functional packaging, or new
disposable electronic applications.[210]

Solar cells
One of the promising applications of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) is their use in
solar panels, due to their strong UV/Vis-NIR absorption characteristics. Research has shown that
they can provide a sizable increase in efficiency, even at their current unoptimized state. Solar
cells developed at the New Jersey Institute of Technology use a carbon nanotube complex,
formed by a mixture of carbon nanotubes and carbon buckyballs (known as fullerenes) to form
snake-like structures. Buckyballs trap electrons, but they can't make electrons flow.[211] Add
sunlight to excite the polymers, and the buckyballs will grab the electrons. Nanotubes, behaving
like copper wires, will then be able to make the electrons or current flow.[212]
Additional research has been conducted on creating SWNT hybrid solar panels to increase the
efficiency further. These hybrids are created by combining SWNT's with photo-excitable
electron donors to increase the number of electrons generated. It has been found that the
interaction between the photo-excited porphyrin and SWNT generates electro-hole pairs at the
SWNT surfaces. This phenomenon has been observed experimentally, and contributes practically
to an increase in efficiency up to 8.5%.[213]
Further information: Carbon nanotubes in photovoltaics

Hydrogen storage
In addition to being able to store electrical energy, there has been some research in using carbon
nanotubes to store hydrogen to be used as a fuel source. By taking advantage of the capillary
effects of the small carbon nanotubes, it is possible to condense gases in high density inside
single-walled nanotubes. This allows for gases, most notably hydrogen (H2), to be stored at high
densities without being condensed into a liquid. Potentially, this storage method could be used on
vehicles in place of gas fuel tanks for a hydrogen-powered car. A current issue regarding
hydrogen-powered vehicles is the on-board storage of the fuel. Current storage methods involve
cooling and condensing the H2 gas to a liquid state for storage which causes a loss of potential

energy (2545%) when compared to the energy associated with the gaseous state. Storage using
SWNTs would allow one to keep the H2 in its gaseous state, thereby increasing the storage
efficiency. This method allows for a volume to energy ratio slightly smaller to that of current gas
powered vehicles, allowing for a slightly lower but comparable range.[214]
An area of controversy and frequent experimentation regarding the storage of hydrogen by
adsorption in carbon nanotubes is the efficiency by which this process occurs. The effectiveness
of hydrogen storage is integral to its use as a primary fuel source since hydrogen only contains
about one fourth the energy per unit volume as gasoline. Studies however show that what is the
most important is the surface area of the materials used. Hence activated carbon with surface
area of 2600 m2/g can store up to 5,8% w/w. In all these carbonaceous materials, hydrogen is
stored by physisorption at 70-90K.[215]
Experimental capacity
One experiment[216] sought to determine the amount of hydrogen stored in CNTs by utilizing
elastic recoil detection analysis (ERDA). CNTs (primarily SWNTs) were synthesized via
chemical vapor disposition (CVD) and subjected to a two-stage purification process including air
oxidation and acid treatment, then formed into flat, uniform discs and exposed to pure,
pressurized hydrogen at various temperatures. When the data was analyzed, it was found that the
ability of CNTs to store hydrogen decreased as temperature increased. Moreover, the highest
hydrogen concentration measured was ~0.18%; significantly lower than commercially viable
hydrogen storage needs to be. A separate experimental work performed by using a gravimetric
method also revealed the maximum hydrogen uptake capacity of CNTs to be as low as 0.2%.[217]
Limitations on efficient hydrogen adsorption
The biggest obstacle to efficient hydrogen storage using CNTs is the purity of the nanotubes. To
achieve maximum hydrogen adsorption, there must be minimum graphene, amorphous carbon,
and metallic deposits in the nanotube sample. Current methods of CNT synthesis require a
purification step. However, even with pure nanotubes, the absorption capacity is only maximized
under high pressures, which are undesirable in commercial fuel tanks.

Supercapacitor
Main article: Supercapacitor
MIT Research Laboratory of Electronics uses nanotubes to improve supercapacitors. The
activated charcoal used in conventional ultracapacitors has many small hollow spaces of various
size, which create together a large surface to store electric charge. But as charge is quantized into
elementary charges, i.e. electrons, and each such elementary charge needs a minimum space, a
significant fraction of the electrode surface is not available for storage because the hollow spaces
are not compatible with the charge's requirements. With a nanotube electrode the spaces may be
tailored to sizefew too large or too smalland consequently the capacity should be increased
considerably.[218]

Radar absorption
Main article: Radar-absorbent material
Radars work in the microwave frequency range, which can be absorbed by MWNTs. Applying
the MWNTs to the aircraft would cause the radar to be absorbed and therefore seem to have a
smaller radar cross-section. One such application could be to paint the nanotubes onto the plane.
Recently there has been some work done at the University of Michigan regarding carbon
nanotubes usefulness as stealth technology on aircraft. It has been found that in addition to the
radar absorbing properties, the nanotubes neither reflect nor scatter visible light, making it
essentially invisible at night, much like painting current stealth aircraft black except much more
effective. Current limitations in manufacturing, however, mean that current production of
nanotube-coated aircraft is not possible. One theory to overcome these current limitations is to
cover small particles with the nanotubes and suspend the nanotube-covered particles in a
medium such as paint, which can then be applied to a surface, like a stealth aircraft.[219]

Textile
The previous studies on the use of CNTs for textile functionalization were focused on fiber
spinning for improving physical and mechanical properties.[220][221][222] Recently a great deal of
attention has been focused on coating CNTs on textile fabrics. Various methods have been
employed for modifying fabrics using CNTs. Shim et al. produced intelligent e-textiles for
Human Biomonitoring using a polyelectrolyte-based coating with CNTs.[223] Additionally,
Panhuis et al. dyed textile material by immersion in either a poly (2-methoxy aniline-5-sulfonic
acid) PMAS polymer solution or PMAS-SWNT dispersion with enhanced conductivity and
capacitance with a durable behavior.[224] In another study, Hu and coworkers coated single-walled
carbon nanotubes with a simple dipping and drying process for wearable electronics and
energy storage applications.[225] In the recent study, Li and coworkers using elastomeric separator
and almost achieved a fully stretchable supercapacitor based on buckled single-walled carbon
nanotube macrofilms. The electrospun polyurethane was used and provided sound mechanical
stretchability and the whole cell achieve excellent charge-discharge cycling stability.[226] CNTs
have an aligned nanotube structure and a negative surface charge. Therefore, they have similar
structures to direct dyes, so the exhaustion method is applied for coating and absorbing CNTs on
the fiber surface for preparing multifunctional fabric including antibacterial, electric conductive,
flame retardant and electromagnetic absorbance properties.[227][228][229]

Optical power detectors

A spray-on mixture of carbon nanotubes and ceramic demonstrates unprecedented ability to
resist damage while absorbing laser light. Such coatings that absorb as the energy of highpowered lasers without breaking down are essential for optical power detectors that measure the
output of such lasers. These are used, for example, in military equipment for defusing
unexploded mines. The composite consists of multiwall carbon nanotubes and a ceramic made of
silicon, carbon and nitrogen. Including boron boosts the breakdown temperature. The nanotubes
and graphene-like carbon transmit heat well, while the oxidation-resistant ceramic boosts
damage resistance. Creating the coating involves dispersing the nanotubes in toluene, to which a

clear liquid polymer containing boron was added. The mixture was heated to 1,100 C
(2,010 F). The result is crushed into a fine powder, dispersed again in toluene and sprayed in a
thin coat on a copper surface. The coating absorbed 97.5 percent of the light from a far-infrared
laser and tolerated 15 kilowatts per square centimeter for 10 seconds. Damage tolerance is about
50 percent higher than for similar coatings, e.g., nanotubes alone and carbon paint.[230][231]

Acoustics
Carbon nanotubes have also been applied in the acoustics(such as loudspeaker and earphone). In
2008 it was shown that a sheet of nanotubes can operate as a loudspeaker if an alternating current
is applied. The sound is not produced through vibration but thermoacoustically.[232][233] In 2013, a
carbon nanotube (CNT) thin yarn thermoacoustic earphone together with CNT thin yarn
thermoacoustic chip was demonstrated by a research group of Tsinghua-Foxconn
Nanotechnology Research Center in Tsinghua University,[234] using a Si-based semi-conducting
technology compatible fabrication process.

Environmental remediation
A CNT nano-structured sponge (nanosponge) containing sulfur and iron is more effective at
soaking up water contaminants such as oil, fertilizers, pesticides and pharmaceuticals. Their
magnetic properties make them easier to retrieve once the clean-up job is done. The sulfur and
iron increases sponge size to around 2 centimetres (0.79 in). It also increases porosity due to
beneficial defects, creating buoyancy and reusability. Iron, in the form of ferrocene makes the
structure easier to control and enables recovery using magnets. Such nanosponges increase the
absorption of the toxic organic solvent dichlorobenzene from water by 3.5 times. The sponges
can absorb vegetable oil up to 150 times their initial weight and can absorb engine oil as well.[235]
[236]

Earlier, a magnetic boron-doped MWNT nanosponge that could absorb oil from water. The
sponge was grown as a forest on a substrate via chemical vapor disposition. Boron puts kinks
and elbows into the tubes as they grow and promotes the formation of covalent bonds. The
nanosponges retain their elastic property after 10,000 compressions in the lab. The sponges are
both superhydrophobic, forcing them to remain at the water's surface and oleophilic, drawing oil
to them.[237][238]

Water treatment
It has been shown that carbon nanotubes exhibit strong adsorption affinities to a wide range of
aromatic and aliphatic contaminants in water,[239][240][241] due to their large and hydrophobic
surface areas. They also showed similar adsorption capacities as activated carbons in the
presence of natural organic matter.[242] As a result, they have been suggested as promising
adsorbents for removal of contaminant in water and wastewater treatment systems.
Moreover, membranes made out of carbon nanotube arrays have been suggested as switchable
molecular sieves, with sieving and permeation features that can be dynamically

activated/deactivated by either pore size distribution (passive control) or external electrostatic

fields (active control)

2. What is the Nano scale Characterization? How surface roughness is measured using Nano
devices.
urface roughness at the nanoscale and below plays a crucial role in determining the functional
performance of many devices. Understanding and characterizing nanoscale and even subangstrom roughness is becoming increasingly important in our ability to continue exploring and
building devices at ever smaller length scales.
Nanoscale Roughness
AFM is essential for studying surface roughness (Ra, or average deviation) at the nanoscale,
having resolution far exceeding that of other stylus and optical based methods1. The measured
roughness of any given surface depends on both the spatial and vertical resolution of the
instrument. This is because real surfaces exhibit roughness on many length scales and can be
thought of as a superposition of these profiles. Consider that even an atomically flat surface has
quantifiable roughness when using a high-performance instrument with sub-angstrom resolution,
such as the Cypher AFM.
There are many examples illustrating the importance of nanoscale surface roughness. In the data
storage industry, with areal bit densities surpassing 1 terabyte per square inch, and read/write
heads flying mere nanometers above the surface, hard disk platters are now being polished to a
roughness of ~1 Ra.
Likewise, as transistors scale down in accordance with Moores Law, the ability to measure subangstrom surface roughness is becoming increasingly important for the semiconductor industry.
Atomically flat silicon has been shown to greatly decrease the transistor noise while increasing
reliability and device performance2. Figure 1 shows a comparison of chemical-mechanical
polished silicon and a single terrace of atomically flat silicon.
There are two important factors which affect the resolution of the surface roughness
measurement:
1. AFM instrument noise limits the vertical resolution.
2. Tip radius limits the spatial resolution. Tip wear also affects the precision of
the measurement.

Vertical Resolution

Mechanical vibrations in the AFM and random fluctuations in the electrical signals are examples
of instrument noise that ultimately translate into a certain amount of variation in the height
signal. Height features that are smaller than this are simply lost in the noise and cannot be
meaningfully resolved.
One commonly employed method to quantify instrument noise is to simply measure the variation
in the AFM height signal in the absence of any real signal. For example, many manufacturers set
the scan size to zero and report the apparent roughness. Without any features of height, there is
no signal; without signal, there is only noise. In theory, this is a seemingly adequate method. In
practice, however, this is an unreliable approach since it depends greatly on imaging conditions.
In fact, as shown in Figure 2, the measured noise floor could be made arbitrarily small simply by
lowering the imaging gains or bandwidth to unrealistic values. Since there are no real features to
have to track, imaging a flat surface does not require the level of imaging gains or bandwidth that
would typically be required for most samples.
The solution we demonstrate here is to scan an atomically flat surface where the scanned area
contains a single step edge, and then confine the area for the roughness measurement to a single
atomically flat terrace. Molybdenum disulfide (MoS2) was chosen for this task because it is
readily available, atomically flat with a moderate density of single steps, and easily cleavable
which allows for a chemically clean surface.
Figure 3 shows a 250nm scan taken at 1Hz in tapping mode of a freshly cleaved MoS2 surface
with a single step of 6.5, imaged with a Cypher AFM. If this surface is to be tracked with any
fidelity, the gains and imaging bandwidth must be set appropriately. The realtime height profiles
as the tip scans over and then back again should match. After the image is acquired in this
fashion, each side is flattened separately and the Ra is measured to be 7.2pm on the upper step
and 6.7pm on the lower step. This is a measure of the Cypher AFMs noise floor in tapping
mode. The short mechancial path inherent in the Cypher design results in the industrys lowest
instrument noise levels (<15pm height noise).
Spatial Resolution and Precision
Measurements of surface roughness are also affected by the radius of the cantilever tip.
Compared to other stylus probes used to measure roughness, the relatively small tip radius of an
AFM cantilever enables it to image and measure roughness with nanoscale spatial resolution.
Furthermore, the precision of the surface roughness measurement also relies on a non-changing
tip profile. Quality in instrument design is essential here specifically the AFM should be very
responsive in its mechanical Z-axis to prevent the tip from blunting, as is the case for the Asylum
Research AFMs.
Additionally, small amplitudes can be used to minimize tip wear as shown in Figure 4. Imaging
in this fashion prevents the tip from blunting, thereby preserving the spatial resolution of the

measurement. This technique is easy to implement and standard on all Asylum Research AFM
models.
3. What are Social Impact of Nano technology? Explain.
How Nanotechnology effects society be it positive or negative ways.

May raise distinctive social & ethical issues in future & so it is better to integrate social
& ethical studies from very beginning.
Some intemperate voices call for government regulation or outright banning of
nanotechnology.
It is foolish to ask Is nanotechnology harmful as nanotechnology is not one thing but a
myraid of different things having range of potential uses and misuses in conjuction with
other technologies.
Environment
Health & Safety
Economics
Security & Privacy
Education
Politics

 Media
Legal & Regulatory
Culture
Religion
Following are diverse examples of possible applications suggested by workshop
conducted by National Science and Technology Council participants concerning a variety
of sectors of the economy and spheres of life:
More efficient components for the semiconductor
Nanostructured catalysts for the chemical industry and converters to handle pollution
from automobile exhausts and other combustion
Improved pharmaceuticals with features such as programmed delivery to desired targets
like tumors.
More efficient solar energy conversion
Molecularly engineered biodegradable fertilizers and insectides.
Nanoscale components in sensor systems that can quickly detect & identify pollutants &
disease organisms.
The general public has a significant stake in the National Nanotechnology Initiative
(NNI) that must be managed both directly through public participation and indirectly
through the involvement of social scientists
Social scientific and economic research can help manufacturers and the government
make the right decisions when deploying a new technology, maximizing its benefit for
human beings.
The workshop developed a number of recommendations for government, academia, and
industry suggesting how the social and ethical implications of nanotechnology could best
be addressed
Nanoscale concepts should be introduced into science and engineering education at all
levels

 The training of nanotechnologists should include societal implications and ethical

sensitivity
Formal measurement methods, such as social and economic indicators, should be
developed and consistently employed to chart the actual widespread changes in industry,
education, and public welfare as they occur.
Government agencies, private foundations, and industry should support a wide range of
high-quality, theory-based social and economic research studies on nanotechnology
A knowledge base and institutional infrastructure must be created to evaluate the
probable future intellectual and societal impacts of nanoscience and nanotechnology over
the short, medium, and long term.
There should be formal organizations and mechanisms to ensure participation by diverse
societal institutions and the general public in setting priori-ties for research and
development and in providing timely input to decision makers.
Government and the private sector should establish effective channels for informing the
public promptly about new concepts, projects, potential applications, and ethical issues as
they emerge.
Government and industry should develop management plans and policies that can
effectively incorporate all relevant information and legitimate stakeholder interests to
ensure that we can respond flexibly to social, ethical, legal, and economic implications as
they appear.
A sufficient number and variety of social and economic scientists should receive effective
multi-disciplinary training, so they will be well prepared to work in the nanotechnology
area.
NSF & US Department of commerce staged large meeting to examine the potential for
nanotechnology to combine with three other powerful scientific & engineering trends:
biotechnology,information technology & cognitive science- four NBIC fields

The converging technologies scientists,

engineers & policymakers sketched six General
areas in which human benefits & social issues
are likely to result
Overall potential of converging technologies
Expanding human cognition and communication
Improving human health and physical capabilities
Enhancing group and societal outcomes
National security
Unifying science and education
Numerious applications were sketched that could reasonably be expected to result from
decade or two of vigorous research and development,including following ideas that
depends on partnership between nanotechnology and one or more NBIC fields: developing personal guidance and spatial information systems that allow people to car ry
with them in a wearable computer all the local environmental information that they need
to undertake daily activities

 Developing smart environments that allow people to access wireless in formation (e.g.,
infrared-based auditory signage or locally distributed servers that allow immediate
access to the Internet an d web pages)
Smart maps that explains themselves at the touch of a stylus or as a result of gaze or
gesture (e. g., You are h ere maps or on -screen com puter representations of data) (Fig.
B.5)

Smart buildings that inform about their contents a nd i nhabitants, e .g., t ransit terminals
(Fig. B.6).
Talking fluorescent lights inside buildings such a s shopping centers and transit terminals.
Contributors to the report showed how nanoscale science and engineering were essential
for progress in biology, information science, and cognitive science
Often, the technologies based in the sister sciences will raise ethical issues. In such cases,
nanotechnology may become implicated in controversies without being central to them.
The correct policy response would then be to ignore the superficial nanotechnology
aspects and focus directly on the core problem that lies in a different field.
significance of nanotechnology depends not only on its own accomplishments and on
convergence with other technologies, but also on how these purely tech-nical
developments relate to wider trends going on in the world

 undeniable improvement in health over the twentieth century to medical progress, but
health education and public sanitation may have been more important
The introduction of antibiotics helped increase longevity, and modern cardiology saves
the lives of many people who might otherwise die prematurely of heart attacks, but the
progress against cancer, AIDS, and most aging-related illnesses has been agonizingly
slow.
yet to find a cure for any chronic viral infections, of which AIDS is merely the most
publicized example, Bacteria are rapidly evolving resistance to antibiotics.
Most economically significant technical trend of recent years has been Moores Law,Gordon Moores observation that the density of transistors on the most advanced microchip
doubles about every 18 months.
However, the semiconductor industry is approaching physical limits in the traditional
methods of making integrated circuits, including computer chips, so Moores Law will
stall without breakthroughs in nanoscale technologies such as molecular logic gates and
carbon nanotube transistors
What would happen to the world economy if technological progress slowed or even
halted?
American semiconductor industry would probably collapse if it lost its technological
superiority, because nations with lower wage rates could produce the same things more
cheaply.
At the same time, some developing nations would advance economically, which would
mean increased net world industrial production with concomitant increase in
environmental pollution and resource depletion.
It is impossible to predict how rapidly the conditions in the richest nations would
deteriorate, or whether humanity could navigate through these crises to achieve a stable
world.
But clearly a halt in technological progress would be a shock to the world economy,
global political institutions, and human welfare which it would be wise to avoid
we cannot easily predict the products and impacts of nanotechnology on society.
Research is needed to help us understand changes and to plan action.

 Society needs theories and system models to understand how changes in one part of the
system, whether a particular type of technology or a particular element of society, spread
out to create intended and unintended effects throughout the system.
Nanotechnology are being adapted slowly and so chances of greater impacts is less that
that with smaller and gradual impacts.

4. You have given biological sample to characterize, which instrument is used and why?
Explain its principle of operations.
5. What are the industrial implications of Nanotechnology? Explain.
6. Write short notes on
a. Scanning Nearfield Optical Microscope
b. Scanning Tunneling Microscope
c. Transmission Electron Microscope
d. Scanning Electron Microscope