PECASE: Understanding and Exploiting the Surface Chemistry of Carbon Nanotubes: Optical Methods and Chemical Pathways for Manipulation, Control and Assembly at the Nanoscale

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AbstractProposal Title: CAREER: Understanding and Exploiting the Surface Chemistry of Carbon Nanotubes: Optical Methods and Chemical Pathways for Manipulation, Control and Assembly at the NanoscaleProposal Number: CTS-0449147Principal Investigator: Michael S. StranoInstitution: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Analysis (rationale for decision):This project addresses key technical challenges in the manipulation and control of nanostructures to enable new applications. Innovative scalable, chemical pathways will be developed for separating and sorting single walled carbon nanotubes by their electronic structure using selective, 4-hydroxybenzene diazonium chemistry. Electrophoresis will be used to isolate homogeneous samples for electron transport measurements and to explore applications such as novel ballistic conducting solids and 1-D thin film semiconductors. The alignment, placement and contacting of nanoscale objects in a scalable and controlled manner is of central importance in nanotechnology. This project will use a new optical technique developed to study electrophoretic and dielectrophoretic manipulation of carbon nanotubes as a means of controlling placement and orientation. These efforts will afford researchers new tools for nano-assembly and novel materials for electronic and optical applications. Interactive software modules on 1-D chemistry and physics will be developed and shared both on campus and with a university having a large minority population. An outreach program has been designed and initiated also: Nanotechnology-based Outreach for local Area High Schools (NOAH). By partnering with the College of Education at UIUC and several local area schools, the initiative couples newly developing, portable instrumentation with nanotechnology laboratory-based modules to bring enhanced science education to classrooms that are otherwise disadvantaged.