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UnitGrades 9 - 12

NanoTech: Insights into a Nano-Sized World

Three images: 1) a man holds a thin plastic sheet covered with a gold surface material, 2) a drawing of what looks like a long net of red dots and white connectors, and 3) a woman sits at a table with a small jar of liquid.Nanotechnology is a rapidly growing branch of material science with many applications in a range of disciplines. (left to right) A man holds a sheet of nanoantenna arrays designed to harvest solar energy, a drawing shows the path of molecular flow through a nanotube, and a researcher with quantum dots—ultra-small light beacons with specialized optical properties.

Lesson 1 provides an overview of nanotechnology as a new frontier in material science and engineering and how it has become important to technological advances in our society. Topics covered include an introduction to nanotechnology and its history, the nano-size length scale, types of nano phenomena and properties, real-world applications, research technologies and consumer goods that use nanotechnology and misconceptions about nanotechnology. A PowerPoint presentation is included to introduce the topics. In the associated activity, students make measurements of common objects and convert their units into nanometers, cultivating an understanding of the very small size of the nano world.

Lesson 2 introduces students to specific fields and applications in nanoscience through the use of three mini laboratory exercises. A teacher demo piques their interest in the odd and intriguing nano-material behaviors they witness with ferrofluids, quantum dots, and gold nanoparticles, before conducting three hands-on activities on those topics. Each activity includes a student worksheet.

Working in the field of nanosciences involves the use of advanced techniques and a thorough understanding of material science and engineering. In addition, material scientists specializing in nanotechnology are posed with challenging problems that require a different thinking from conventional, "micro-scaled," materials thinking. This unit introduces and reduces these "advanced techniques" to a level appropriate for teenagers using the approach of teaching the basic principles of materials and colloids, including their magnetic, photoelectric and chemical properties. Current research on the examples investigated—ferrofluids, quantum dots and gold nanoparticles—shows that they have significant impacts in biomedical applications (biosensors), consumer products (electronic devices) and industrial applications (solar energy).

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