Nano Materials

Foundations of Nanotechnology

Materials innovation and materials fabrication are at the very heart of nanoscale science and engineering. VINSE researchers fabricate new nanomaterials and explore novel properties exhibited by nanomaterials that do not exist for bulk materials.

The range of nanomaterials made and characterized by VINSE researchers span those that are synthesized from the bottom-up at the atomic scale to those that are fabricated in a top-down fashion by standard lithographic techniques. The properties of the nanomaterials developed by VINSE researchers are being studied for their potential to facilitate advances in the areas of nanobiotechnology and nanomedicine, nano-energy, and nanoscale optics.

Nanomaterials research in VINSE also encompasses computational nanoscience as theory and modeling drive the development of new materials as well as help to explain the unique properties exhibited by nanomaterials. Examples of nanomaterials investigated by VINSE researchers include semiconductor nanocrystals, catalytic and reactive nanomaterials, carbon-based nanomaterials, and nanoscale diamonds.