This electronic brochure highlights our Nanotechnology. Please sign our guestbook. For additional information, e-mail James Oxley, Joe Persyn, Michael A. Miller, Dr. David J. McComas, or Dr. Katharine C. Golas, Southwest Research Institute.

Nanotechnology 

(About the Cover: Using Raman spectroscopy, Institute scientists develop three-dimensional cellular imaging such as this molecular model of the drug Taxol® to assess the pharmacological value of candidate drugs more quickly.)

Nanotechnology is a diverse field, united only by the factor of scale. At Southwest Research Institute® (SwRI®), multidisciplinary teams of scientists and engineers bring together advanced technologies on the smallest of scales to provide solutions to large and small problems.

The Institute uses advanced engineering and fundamental chemistry, physics, and material sciences, along with innovative computational capabilities, to solve specific problems in molecular modeling, nanomanipulation and fabrication, molecular templating, and processing. SwRI has well-equipped laboratories, facilities, and equipment, including scanning electron microscopes, a focused ion beam mill, and silicon wafer-handling equipment. Drawing upon expertise in numerous fields, Institute engineers offer services including design engineering, training and virtual data manipulation, fabrication, and characterization.

The Institute, with more than 55 years of experience in the applied engineering and physical sciences, provides solutions in nanosciences, focusing on:

Nanocomposites

SwRI's material scientists develop specialty polymeric matrices containing nanocomposites for numerous applications. Depending on the composition, these matrices possess a variety of properties, including:

  • Low-temperature ductility
  • High dielectric capabilities
  • Unique optical properties
  • High-temperature superplasticity
  • High material strength
  • Improved scratch and corrosion resistance
  • Enhanced drug delivery
  • Increased radiation adsorption
  • Improved pathogen mitigation

Institute scientists blend nanocomposites such as functionalized tantalum oxides with liquid crystal monomers, producing next-generation dental restoratives. These restoratives offer features such as radiopacity, low shrinkage, optical clarity, and high strength.

The Institute's dental composite in the optimal diagnostic range shows significant improvement in radiopacity with increasingnanofiller (tantalum-oxide) concentration.

Institute scientists develop a photocurable dental filling material containing functionalized nanoparticles in the low-shrink polymeric matrix.

Institute staff members are developing protective clothing and gas masks containing nanoparticles of biocidal agents to mitigate pathogens.

Nanoencapsulation

SwRI has earned a world-wide reputation in the field of controlled release. The Institute develops targeted release systems that encompass nanocapsules, including:

  • Novel vaccine, antibiotic, and drug delivery with reduced side effects
  • Food and nutrition
  • Personal care and cosmetics
  • Industrial chemicals, such as adhesives, sealants, and paints

As a multidisciplinary laboratory, SwRI engineers develop a wide range of products, including:

  • Films to neutralize chemical agents and to mitigate pathogen contamination using biocide nanoparticles
  • Tissue-engineered constructs comprised of nanoencapsulated pharmaceutical actives
  • Protective clothing and filtration masks, using antipathogenic nanoemulsions and nanoparticles
  • Self-repair matrices for structural composites
  • Medical appendages for instantaneous healing under battlefield conditions

SwRI scientists are developing micro-capsules containing nanoplatelet fillers at the shell wall to provide oxygen- and water-barrier properties. These fillers will enable development of next-generation nutritional and functional food products such as fish oil.

Liposome particle size decreases as the extrusion pore size is reduced, and the particle size distribution decreases with increasing number of extrusions.

   

SwRI scientists developed bone-targeting nanocarriers that release their payload following attachment to the target site. Payload release may occur by natural nanocarrier degradation, application of external stimuli, administration of a complementary factor in schedule, or in response to local biochemical signals.

Nanoengineered Materials

SwRI is an internationally known center for material sciences. Because of a broad expertise in material development, characterization, and testing, Institute scientists and engineers are in the forefront of developing nanoengineered materials. SwRI offers technology development based on fundamental disciplines such as:

  • Surface and interfacial science
  • Computational chemistry and solid-state physics
  • Molecular mechanics

The Institute's approach to technology development is to bridge the gap between theoretical constructs of atomic scale and nano- or microstructural behavior. Selected examples in which this approach has been applied to nanoengineered technologies include:

  • Conformal hard and soft coatings
  • Functionally graded tribochemical coatings
  • Multilayered optical thin films
  • Solid electrolytes
  • High-temperature alloys and ceramics
  • Molecular clusters for catalysis
  • Metal-containing carbon nanotubes
  • Molecularly imprinted polymers for sensor development
  • Substrates for advanced spectroscopic imaging
  • Biologically functional coatings for medical implants
  • Enhanced heat-transfer fluids

Institute scientists use molecular computations to design or predict material systems at atomic scales that are most likely to yield a desired behavior. Here, a molecular dynamics simulation of the surface interaction between a diamond-like carbon (DLC) thin-film and a cadmium telluride (CdTe) substrate is used to predict the interfacial adhesion of DLC conformal coatings on a photovoltaic device.

Training, Simulation, and Performance Improvement

As a multidisciplinary research organization, SwRI staff members study the use of spatially immersive virtual reality systems to model and visualize large-scale molecular nanostructures. With this technology, Institute scientists make objects more accessible and their behavior more understandable. Virtual reality is an excellent analysis and training tool when objects or processes are not visible to the naked eye, such as nanotechnology.

Virtual reality display systems (above) surround the user in real space with three-dimensional, computer-generated visual and audio scenes responsive to the user's point of view, orientation, and actions. Using this technology, investigators move in and around a nanotech structure as the scene changes dynamically through time steps.

In other virtual reality display devices, scientists use rendering techniques, force feed-back technology, and display interfaces to extend their eyes and hands into the nano world. SwRI is developing systems that intuitively map information from the nano world into human senses and control systems that project human actions into the nano world.

Nanofabrication

As a multidisciplinary research and development laboratory, SwRI offers expertise in specialized fabrication, processing, and synthetic methods. Examples of these methods include the following:

  • Physical vapor deposition
  • Ion beam-assisted deposition
  • Ion implantation
  • Ion etching
  • Metal ion implantation
  • Pulse waveform electrodeposition
  • Molecular imprinting of polymers

Because of this experience, Institute scientists and engineers can design, develop, synthesize, or fabricate a wide range of microstructures and microdevices, including:

  • Nano- and microsensors
  • Metal nanoclusters
  • Ultra-thin membranes
  • Multilayer dielectric coatings
  • Self-assembled monolayers
  • Highly organized structural templates
  • Structural fatigue and corrosion array sensor
  • Substrates for three-dimensional Raman imaging spectroscopy

SwRI scientists use an ion beam in conjunction with deposition processes to fabricate nanostructures having the desired composition and morphology.

Using electrochemical techniques such as pulse waveform electro-deposition, Institute engineers fabricate discrete metal clusters of nanometer dimensions. This image, obtained by atomic force microscopy, shows dense strands of single-wall carbon nanotubes decorated with clusters of a metal (indicated by small bright regions)

Ultra-Thin Carbon Foils for Space Sensors

Ultra-thin carbon foils are key components of numerous science instruments currently in space and proposed for future space missions. These foils are approximately 0.5 µg cm-2, equivalent to approximately 3 nm or approximately 20 atoms thick. As accelerated atoms pass through the thin foils, they emit secondary electrons from the entrance and exit surfaces and change their atomic charge state. SwRI is working on a number of space instruments that require these properties, including:

  • Neutral mass spectrometers
  • Ion mass spectrometers
  • Energetic neutral atom (ENA) imagers

SwRI scientists are at the forefront of understanding, handling, space-qualifying, and developing new space applications for these extremely thin and delicate foils.

Nanosensors

SwRI engineers use nanotechnology to design and develop unique sensors and instruments. Institute staff members are studying carbon nanotube field emitter arrays for use in dust-dispersal applications, such as are required on the Mars lander program.

Using a sophisticated vacuum chamber for thin-film and nanostructure synthesis, Institute engineers can perform molecular beam epitaxy as well as pulsed laser and ion-assisted growth. SwRI scientists can develop a variety of nano instrumentation, including:

  • Miniaturized radio-frequency devices
  • Flexible circuits and hybrid fluid/electronic circuits using polymer and elastomer lithography
  • Integrated chemical and biological sensors
  • Nano-Raman spectrometer in a chip

Using focused ion beam micromachining techniques, SwRI scientists fabricate specialized equipment and sensors on a nano-scale.

SwRI Instrumentation

SwRI engineers and scientists design and fabricate specialized equipment to assist in research efforts. Instrumentation for nanotechnology design, fabrication, and analysis include:

  • Staff-developed apertureless near-field optical microscope (a hybrid optical/atomic force microscope)
  • Focused ion-beam micromachining (Model FEI 611)
  • Park Scientific Instruments scanning tunneling microscope (dedicated ultra-high vacuum instrument)
  • Staff-developed atomic force microscope (with Park Scientific Instruments software and control electronics)
  • Nanostructure imaging and nanoscale optical spectroscopy
  • Nanoscale Raman vibrational spectroscopy and microscopy
  • Optical spectroscopy including:
    • Argon-ion laser (Spectra-Physics BeamLok®, 10 watt)
    • Staff-developed femtosecond titanium-sapphire laser
    • Staff-developed tunable titanium-sapphire laser
    • Excimer laser (Lambda Physik® Compex 102; 8-watt KrF)
    • Spex 0.75- and 0.25-meter double-pass spectrometers
    • Princeton Instruments CCD cameras (thermoelectrically and nitrogen
      cooled)

For information about nanotechnology, contact James Oxley, Phone (210) 522-2913, Fax (210) 522-4565, or Joe Persyn, Phone (210) 522-2691, Fax (210) 522-3649, Chemistry and Chemical Engineering Division, Michael A. Miller, Mechanical Engineering Division, Phone (210) 522-2189, Fax (210) 522-6220; Dr. David J. McComas, Space Science and Engineering Division, Phone (210) 522-5983, Fax (210) 520-9935;  Dr. Jerry Helffrich, Applied Physics Division, Phone (210) 522-3419, Fax (210) 522-4748; Dr. Katharine C. Golas, Training, Simulation and Performance Improvement Division, Phone (210) 522-2094, Fax (210) 522-5429, Southwest Research Institute, P.O. Drawer 28510, San Antonio, Texas 78228-0510.

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