Nanotechnology: Materials, Infrastructure, and Safety

Catalog description

Cleanroom based nano/micro fabrication and related environmental health and safety issues. The nanotechnology consumer products market currently has more than 1,000 nanomaterial-containing products varying from makeup, sunscreen, food storage products, appliances, clothing, electronics, computers, sporting goods, and coatings to drug delivery systems. These products exist in the market place and are expanding in number because nano-scale materials and structures can have properties that are very different from larger size-scale versions of the same materials and structures. These property differences at the nano-scale can make nanotechnology products unique and desirable for specific applications. However, the uniqueness of the nano-scale can also affect toxicity and environmental repercussions due to differences in physicochemical properties arising from size but also from shape, chemistry, surface properties, agglomeration, bio-persistence, solubility, and charge, as well as from differences caused by attached functional groups, as outlined in this course. The greater surface-area-to-mass ratio of nanoparticles makes them generally more reactive than their macro-sized counterparts. These properties that make nanomaterials unique and valuable in manufacturing many products also make manufacturing at this scale an endeavor which must be studied and appreciated for its potential safety, health, and environmental impact. Practicing engineering at the nano-scale requires awareness of the nanotechnology safety, health concerns, and environmental issues laid out in E SC 412.