Nanotechnology
There’s a big future in small things. Nanotechnology is the new frontier of engineering, imagining new possibilities in manufacturing, fluid mechanics, robotics, combustion, biomedicine, measurements, heat transfer, and more. Purdue hosts the largest academic cleanroom in the world, the Birck Nanotechnology Center, where interdisciplinary teams have access to the absolute cutting-edge of nano-scale characterization (microscopy and measurements) and fabrication (deposition, etching, lithography, etc.) With these tools, mechanical engineers conduct world-class research in:
- Nanoscale manufacturing
- Micro- and nano-fluidics
- Biomolecular detection
- Nanoscale thermal transport
- Computational modeling
- Nanomechanical materials
The Birck Nanotechnology Center encompasses 186,000 square feet of labs and research space. The centerpiece is the Scifres Nanofabrication Laboratory, an ISO Class 3-4-5 cleanroom which filters out micron-level particles, and exchanges the air nine times a minute.
Faculty in Nanotechnology
- Multi-scale robotic manipulation and assembly
- Mobile micro/nano robotics
- Micro/nano aerial vehicles
- Micro-Bio robotics
- Mechatronics
- MEMS/NEMS
- Automation for the life sciences
- Biomolecular nanomanufacturing
- DNA origami and self-assembly
- Optical nanoscopy and nanosensors
- Bioinspired nanomechanical systems
- Nanoscale energy conversion
- High-performance cooling technologies
- Thermal microsystems
- Energy efficiency in computing and electronics
- Micro- and nano-scale transport phenomena
- Solar thermal energy storage
- Materials processing
- Advanced multi-scale manufacturing
- Ultrafast laser machining and processing
- Fiber optic sensors and environmental monitoring
- Spray-based nanoparticle coating and additive manufacturing
- Machining of carbon fiber reinforced polymer (CFRP) composites
- Computational solid mechanics
- Multiscale modeling of materials
- Finite Elements
- Dislocation dynamics
- Computational modeling of micromechanical systems
- Reliability of electronic interconnects
- Nano structured materials
- Effects of length scales on deformation process
- Nanoscale thermal transport and energy conversion
- Electronics cooling and thermal management
- Novel nanostructured materials and devices
- Energy storage and conversion (batteries, fuel cells)
- Mesoscale physics and stochastics
- Reactive transport, materials, processing, and microstructure interactions
- Scalable nanomanufacturing: lithography and imaging
- Optical and magnetic data storage
- Nanoscale energy conversion, transfer and storage for alternative energy
- Nonlinear dynamics, vibrations, fluid-structure interactions, and applications to:
- Atomic force microscopy
- MEMS/NEMS
- Human biomechanics
- Roll-to-Roll flexible electronics and nanomanufacturing
- Nonlinear Dynamics and Vibration
- Resonant Micro/Nanosystems
- Microscale Sensors and Actuators
- Nanoscale heat transfer and energy conversion
- Multiscale multiphysics simulations of nanomaterials for energy applications
- Photovoltaic nanomaterials: simulation, synthesis, and devices
- Thermoelectric nanomaterials: simulation, synthesis and devices
- Nanoscale thermal radiation and nano-photonics
- MEMS, nanotechnology
- BioMEMS
- Biosensors
- Protein detection
- Aptamers (Nucleic-acid-based receptor molecules)
- Multiphase combustion, particularly related to propellants, explosives, and pyrotechnics
- Nanoscale composite energetic materials
- Advanced energetic materials
- Microscale combustion
- Desalination & Water Treatment
- Water-Food-Energy Nexus
- Thermofluids
- Nanotechnology
- Membrane Science
- Microfluidic MEMS devices
- Development of new microfluidic diagnostic techniques
- Biological flows at the cellular level
- Micro-scale laminar mixing
- Flow transitions and instabilities
- Heat transfer, particularly nano-scale and ultrafast heat transfer
- Ultrafast laser materials processing and diagnostics
- Nano-optics and laser-based nano-lithography