What is Nanotechnology?

When we think of the construction of machines and devices we do not usually associate this with a process that can be carried out atom by atom. Rather than that, the components used for product assembly are cut out from larger blocks of a material by a range of often sophisticated engineering methods. However, some components, for example those on a computer chip, are nowadays so small, that we could indeed envisage building them up from individual atoms or molecules. The size in which this transition from classical engineering concepts to chemical assembly becomes practically feasible lies between one and a hundred nanometres. Making components in this 1 to 100 nm size regime and assembling them into devices is Nanotechnology.

What is Chemistry with Nanotechnology?

Why study Chemistry with Nanotechnology?

Some of Liverpool's contributions to Nanotechnology so far....

One nanometre is one billionth of a metre, about the size of a molecule. The pictures below of Self-assembling Nano Corrals have been obtained by scanning tunneling microscopy (STM). The animation shows the comparison of model (left) with STM image (right) of a Si(111) surface after exposure to 1-chlorododecane molecules

While Nanotechnology is predicted to be of great importance for the development of new materials and devices for all areas of human activity, the greatest advances are currently made in electronics and in medicine. For example, it is now possible to measure and switch the electrical current that flows through only one individual molecule. Knowledge gained from such experiments is crucial for the design of forthcoming generations of computers and of other powerful electronic devices yet to be invented. Nanotechnology also enables biologists and medical researchers to trace and control the fate of single molecules inside living cells. This ability will open completely new diagnostic and therapeutic opportunities including the early recognition and treatment of major diseases such as cancer, cardiovascular disease and Alzheimer's disease.           

What is Chemistry with Nanotechnology?

Chemistry programmes generally include a number of options to combine a pure Chemistry degree with another appropriate discipline that might be Medicinal Chemistry, Pharmacology, Oceanography, Business Studies, or, in this case, Nanotechnology. These courses are designed to educate professional chemists with a unique combination of interdisciplinary skills, which will create additional professional opportunities for them. The content of our Chemistry with Nanotechnology course has been developed with the aim to give Chemistry students a broader appreciation of science as a whole and to enable them to draw specialist knowledge from Chemistry, Physics, Biology and Engineering in order to understand and manipulate processes that take place on the nanometre scale. Scientists currently working in Nanotechnology come from very diverse backgrounds most of them being chemists or physicists. They all had to put in some extra work to gain the essential specialist knowledge, which had not been part of their respective degree programme when they were students. Our Chemistry with Nanotechnology programme aims to produce chemists, who already have the knowledge and understanding needed to engage in research in Nanotechnology.

The pictures below show the results of a high throughput experiment to discover the conditions under which gold nanoparticles of a well-defined size are obtained. Solutions of particles of different sizes have different colours (left). Under some conditions very regular and extremely small particles can be obtained (right).          

Why study Chemistry with Nanotechnology F1F3?

There are many good reasons for this. Here are a few examples:

1. You are fascinated by what Nanotechnology promises to do for us in the future, and you want to work in this exciting new field.

You can do this by studying chemistry, physics, engineering, biology, biochemistry or a hand full of other subjects, and after you finish your degree, you begin to specialise in Nanotechnology. Alternatively, a degree in Chemistry with Nanotechnology will give you a significant head start, which may be just what you need to obtain the desired job in Nanotechnology.

2.  You want to become a chemist but you would like to have an additional skill base to maximise the range of future job opportunities.

All chemistry degrees offer excellent job prospects. The range of possibilities becomes even wider for students with additional qualifications. In the case of Chemistry with Nanotechnology this will include industrial opportunities in electronics, semiconductors, medical diagnostics, energy conversion and storage, cosmetics and catalysis to name only a few important areas. Also bear in mind that Nanotechnology is widely regarded as an up and coming field, and “nano-literacy” may soon become as highly sought after as computer literacy was 20 years ago.

3.  You are determined to work in Nanotechnology, but you are not sure if this field will really have the brilliant future it promises.

Some universities offer new degree courses in Nanotechnology, which would be a good option for you as you already know that this is your specialty area of choice. However, your concern is also valid. Nobody can foresee with certainty what is going to happen in the future, and other technologies may arise and dominate the job scene making it more difficult for the specialist with a degree in Nanotechnology.  Chemistry, on the other hand, will always be at the core of industrial activity, and you can use your chemistry degree as a fall back option just in case the jobs in Nanotechnology happen to be fewer than what we are all expecting at the moment.

4.  You liked sciences at school but you could never quite decide which one to study at university.

Chemistry with Nanotechnology is an ideal choice. The syllabus contains extra training in physics and biology, and students’ research projects in Nanotechnology tend to be interdisciplinary and are often co-supervised by Lecturers and Professors from other Science departments. You will thus get a broader, and for you possibly more satisfactory training in sciences other than Chemistry.

5.  You did not get into medicine but you still want to work in a related field.

Medicine is expected to be revolutionized by nanotechnology, and an increasing number of experts will work alongside medics to provide expertise, for example with new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches based on Nanotechnology. This is comparable to the current need of engineers and physicists, who develop, build and run modern diagnostic equipment such as MRI scanners.

Why study it at Liverpool?

As a member of the Russell Group we are one of the major research Universities in the UK and as such provide excellent and highly competitive degrees across all fields. The Chemistry with Nanotechnology Programme has recently been developed to reflect our internationally leading research profile in Nanotechnology in the course structure. In other words, Students are taught throughout their degree course by scientists with a high international reputation in Nanotechnology. This guarantees that our teaching is always up to date, and that those students who want to continue their studies towards a PhD degree will have the opportunity to carry out world class research. Our particular strengths include molecular electronics, nanostructured materials, scanning tunnelling microscopy, nanoparticle synthesis, bio-nanotechnology, surface science and electrocatalysis. The pictures below illustrate important advances in nanotechnology, the self-assembly of an electronic switch of molecular dimensions (left) and the measurement of electrical current through individual molecules (right), both achieved by the research groups of Profs. Nichols and Schiffrin here at Liverpool.        

 BY:QUEEN MOHANA