Overview of Nanoparticle & its applications to Lubricants

Dr.K.Balamurugan Associate Professor/Mech. Engg. IRTT, Erode

drkbalamurugan@gmail.com

Agenda

Nanotechnology Nanoparticles Lubricants HS&E issues

"There's plenty of room at the bottom."

Richard P. Feynman, Ph.D.

What is Nanotechnology?

Nanotechnology is an enabling technology that will change the nature of almost every human-made object in the next century.

-National Science and Technology Council

What is Nanotechnology?
Nanotechnology is about: Making small objects Manipulating small objects Creating new materials by varying the size of the objects Building structures from small objects
This slide is adapted from the presentation on An Introduction to Nanotechnology, by Terry Bigioni, posted at http://www.homepages.utoledo.edu/tbigion/BigioniGroup/Ou treach_Home.html

WHAT IS NANOTECHNOLOGY?
Nanotechnology is the manipulation of matter at the nanometer* scale to create novel structures, devices and systems.

Structures (e.g.materials)

Devices (e.g. sensors)

Systems (e.g. NEMS)

* 1 millimeter = 1,000 micrometers; 1 micrometer = 1,000 nanometers Source: "Nanotech: The Tiny Revolution" by CMP Cientfica (November 2001)

Building Complex Structures with Small Objects

Top-down (i.e. Lithography)

Bottom-up (i.e. Self-assembly)

Composite fabrication
Nanotube bundles

Mixing large objects with small ones (i.e. nanocomposites)

Carbon matrix

Starting from big

things

has meant producing things with the precision that we were able to achieve, but -at the same timeproducing lots of waste or pollution,

and consuming a lot of energy.

As we got better at technology, precision improved and waste/pollution diminished, but the approach was still the same.

Starting from small things

means absolute precision (down to one single atom !),

complete control of processes (no waste?) and the use of less energy (with
less CO2, less greenhouse effect, perhaps you

heard about that on TV).

Advantages of starting from small things

the distance between the centre of two footballs is bigger than the distance between the centre of two nuts smaller means nearer

(and quicker to connect)

you can dissolve sugar or salt quicker when it is in powder form and slower when it is in the form of crystals or blocks smaller can become

more reactive

Nanotechnology

The science of constructing unique materials at the molecular level, in the scale of 1-100 nanometers. 1 nanometer is 1/1000 of a micron, or 1 billionth of a meter. At this level, it is possible to vary fundamental properties of materials (for instance, melting temperature, magnetization, charge capacity) without changing the chemical composition.

A DIVERSE SET OF OPPORTUNITIES

Medical applications
Nanobio NEMS Tissue/organ regen Smart implants Cosmetics Drug delivery Medical diagnostics

Paints

Coatings & Powders

Chemical catalysts

Biomaterials

Coatings

Lubricants

Nanoarrays Food packaging Portable Energy cells

Textiles

Composites
Energy/ fuel cells

Displays

Memory/Storage devices

1-4
Lighting

Sensors

5-8
9-14

Simple ICs

Molecular circuitry Quantum computing

Solar cells

Microprocessors

Energy, Industrial

Years

15+

Devices & Microelectronics

Nanotechnology

Smaller is Different:

Surface-Effects Dominate Ratio of surface area to volume become very large The Macro World is Dominated by:

Gravity Inertia Magnetism

Electrostatics Surface Tension van der Waals Forces

The Micro World is Dominated by:

Example: water cannot flow through microfluid tubes due to its large surface tension.

Nanoparticle

Particle size less than 100 nm Physical changes Surface area to the volume Classical mechanics to quantum mechanics Transparent ultrafine particles, clusters, nanocrystals, quantum dots Organic an inorganic materials

Carbon, Graphite, Copper, Mx2, silicate, Ceramic

Top-down Approaches

milling or attrition thermal cycles 10 ~ 1000 nm; broad size distribution varied particle shape or geometry impurities for nanocomposites and nanograined bulk materials (lower sintering temperature)

Bottom-up Approaches

Two approaches

thermodynamic equilibrium approach

generation of supersaturation nucleation subsequent growth limiting the amount of precursors for the growth confining in a limited space

kinetic approach

Nanoparticle - Production Techniques

Vapour condensation Chemical synthesis Solid state process

Vapour condensation

It involves evaporation of solid metal followed by rapid condensation to form nanosized clusters that settle in the form of powder.

Used to make metallic and metal oxide ceramic nanoparticles

Vapour condensation

Inert gases are used to avoid oxidation when creating metal nanoparticles Reactive oxygen atmosphere is used to produce metal oxide ceramic nanoparticles. Final particle size is controlled by process parameters such as temperature, gas environment and evaporation rate

Vapour condensation

Vacuum evaporation on running liquids (VERL) This uses a thin film of a relatively viscous material, an oil, or a polymer, for instance, on a rotating drum Chemical Vapour Deposition Thin films, particles Adv. : Low contamination levels

Chemical synthesis

Most widely used technique It consists essentially of growing nanoparticles in a liquid medium composed of various reactants Sol-Gel method, SonoChemistry, Precipitation Better in controlling the final shape of the particles

Chemical synthesis

Choosing chemicals that form particles that are stable, and stop growing, at a certain size Low-cost and high volume Contamination by the chemicals Create surface coatings

Arrested precipitation

Precipitation under starving conditions: a large number of nucleation centers are formed by vigorous mixing of the reactant solutions. If concentration growth is kept small, nuclei growth is stopped due to lack of material.

Particles had to be protected from Oswald Ripening by stabilizers

Oswald Ripening

The growth mechanism where small particles dissolve, and are consumed by larger particles. As a result the average nanoparticle size increases with time and the particle concentration decreases. As particles increase in size, solubility decreases.

Solid state process

Grinding or milling can be used to create nanoparticles The milling material, milling time and atmospheric medium will affect the result Contamination from the milling material

Stabilization of Nanoclusters Against Aggregation

1. Electrostatic stabilization --- --+ -- -+ - - - + --+ + Adsorption of ions to the -- d+ d d+ - - d+ d d+ -surface. Creates an electrical + double layer which results in a +-- d+ d+- -- - d+ d+ --- - - - +- - + Coulombic repulsion force between individual particles 2. Steric Stabilization Surrounding the metal center by layers of material that are sterically bulky, Examples: polymers, surfactants, etc

Stabilizers
Role of stabilizers: Stabilizing agents/ligands/capping agents/passivating agents prevent uncontrollable growth of particles prevent particle aggregation control growth rate controls particle size Allows particle solubility in various solvents

Other Common Stabilizers

1. Organic ligands Thiols (thioethanol, thioglycerol, etc) Amines phosphates
2. Surfactants 3. Polymers 4. Solvents (ether, thioether) 5. Polyoxoanions

Table 3.1

Common Methods for Nanoparticle Characterization

Surface state Particle Size Surface Area

Surface composition
Surface Complexes

Surface structure; Topography

Electron Microscopy X-ray diffraction Magnetic Measurements

AES, XPS, SIMS, EPMA, EXAFS

LEED SEM TEM EXAFS

IR, UV-Vis, ESR, NMR, Raman