Cluster 2: Nanochemistry
At the nanometer scale (10-9 m), the chemical and physical properties of materials and structures show drastic deviations from those of their atomic or bulk forms. Exploiting these new properties has sparked research in energy, electronics, and a diversity of areas. We will introduce basic principles of nanoscience and nanotechnology, and demonstrate the applications of functional nanomaterials through in-house demonstrations and hands-on experiments. Students will learn about the preparation and functionalization of nanomaterials, their controlled assemblies, and the potential impacts on future technologies. Students will also visit nanotechnology laboratories as a foundation for understanding, evaluating, and explaining nanotechnology. In this cluster, we will uncover patterns that transcend specific technologies, enabling us to evaluate whatever we create in our future.
Prerequisite: Students must have completed Chemistry.
Preferences: Completion of Biology.
All students in this cluster will be enrolled in the following
courses.
Nanotechnology: Molecular Control
Nature builds at the molecular scale of nanometers, achieving wondrous properties of strength, flexibility, color, replication, and more. Humans, with our clumsy fingers measuring millions of nanometers across, have long made use of those properties, but technology now allows us to create our own molecular structures with new physical properties.
In this class, we explore nanotechnology and the nanoscience underlying it. From the dirt- and water-shedding nano-pants sold in stores to the promise of nanoscale robots that could patrol the human bloodstream for threats, we pursue these questions:
1. What is nanotechnology?
2. Why do we use it?
3. Where does it come from?
4. How does it work?
5. How does it change?
6. How does it change us?
7. How do we change it?
8. What are its costs and benefits?
9. How do we evaluate it?
We will develop a contextual understanding of nanotechnology, connecting it to physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, engineering, ecology, and even sociology. We will not only design at the molecular scale, but think critically about how to use this newfound power.
Nanomaterials: Chemistry and Energy/Electronic Sciences
Instructor: Shaowei Chen, Ph.D.(Chemistry Department)
The focus of this course is to introduce the fundamentals of nanomaterials chemistry to students and to highlight some of the important implication in energy and electronic sciences. Specifically the lectures will cover the general properties and technological significance of nanomaterials, the leading technologies in the preparation and engineering of functional nanomaterials, typical experimental tools that are important in the investigation, and potential applications in energy (fuel cells, battery, solar cells, etc) and electronic science (nanoelectronics, nano(bio)sensors, etc).
Students will also have the opportunity to carry out a miniproject to evaluate the generation of electricity by fuel cells with simple organic fuels (e.g. methanol), a process that is catalyzed by nanoparticle materials.
Transferable Skills: Tools for Success
It may or may not surprise you that being a university researcher requires
a whole host of skills outside of the specific scientific knowledge
required of your chosen discipline or specialty. It requires communication
skills such as the ability to present your work in writing and orally.
It requires competencies in the realm of information technology
including the ability to find and judge (the validity of) information
and use a variety of hardware and software tools (e.g. spreadsheets,
databases, statistics software, other data manipulation tools).
Conducting research requires data collection, analysis and interpretation,
critical thinking and problem solving, as well as the ability to conduct
laboratory and/or field work And, of course, a baseline competency in English,
science, mathematics and computers is critical.
The governing mission of the UCSC COSMOS Transferable Skills course
is to promote students’ future academic (and professional)
success through the exploration and development of transferable
skills: i.e. those competencies that students develop while in school
which facilitate academic achievement, the eventual transition into
the work-force and which are applicable in many other life situations.
Go to course information for:
- Ciphers - Number Theory and Cryptology*
- Nanochemistry*
- Under
the Sea: Exploring Marine Organisms and Their World*
- Everyday
Chemistry: From Perfumes to Pollution*
- Video Games Design: From Concept to Code*
- Everyday Chemistry
and Mathematics: From Life to Thought*
- Astronomy and Oceanography - Deep Explorations of Outer and Inner Space*
- Marine Mammals and Oceanography: From Prey to Predators
