Dr.
Vandana Rathore
Associate Professor
drvandana@[Link]
Engineering Physics
Unit-4
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UNIT IV: Superconductivity and Nanotechnology
• Introduction and historical developments;
• Meissner effect and its contradiction to the Maxwell’s equation;
Effect of magnetic field.
• Type-I and Type-II superconductors,
• BCS theory, Josephson effect and tunnelling,
• Applications of superconductors;
• Basics principle of nano-science and nano-technology, top down
and bottom up approach, Preparation, characteristics and analysis
methods, thin films, carbon nano-tubes and application of
nanotechnology.
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Superconductivity:
• Superconductivity Certain metals and alloys exhibit almost
zero resistivity (i.e. infinite conductivity), when they are
cooled to sufficiently low temperatures. This effect is called
superconductivity.
• This phenomenon was first of all discovered by H. K. Onnes
in 1911 when measuring the electrical conductivity of
metals at low temperatures.
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• What is a Superconductor?
• Superconductors are different from ordinary conductors, such as copper.
Unlike regular conductors whose resistance gradually reduces,
• Superconductor’s resistance drops to zero below a fixed temperature, which is
the critical temperature. At this temperature, a superconductor can conduct
electricity with no resistance, which means no heat, sound, or other forms of
energy would be discharged from the material when it reaches the “critical
temperature” (Tc).
• To become superconductive, most materials must be in an incredibly low
energy state (very cold).
• Presently, excessive energy must be used in the cooling process, making
superconductors uneconomical and inefficient.
• A study is underway to design compounds that become superconductive at
higher temperatures.
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Superconductor Definition
• “A superconductor is defined as a substance that offers no
resistance to the electric current when it becomes colder
than a critical temperature.”
• Some of the popular examples of superconductors are
aluminium, magnesium diboride, niobium, copper oxide,
yttrium barium and iron pnictides.
• These substances super conduct at temperatures below
the critical temperature.
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• Superconductor Working
• When the temperature of the metal decreases below the
critical temperature, the electrons in the metal form bonds
known as Cooper pairs. The electrons can’t offer any
electrical resistance when bonded like this—allowing
electricity to flow through the metal smoothly.
• Nevertheless, this only works at low temperatures. When
the metal gets warm, the electrons gain enough energy to
break the bonds of the Cooper pairs and go back to
offering resistance.
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Superconductor Graph: The below graph shows the temperature
dependence of the electrical resistivity of normal metal and a
superconductor.
A graph of conductor and superconductor resistance plotted against temperature.
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• Type I and type II superconductors.
• Types of superconductors Based on the diamagnetic
response superconductors can be classified into two
types, they are
• 1. Type I superconductors (Soft Superconductors)
• 2. Type II superconductors (Hard Superconductors)
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• Type I superconductors:
Superconductors which one follows a complete Meissner effect is called
type I superconductors (also is known as soft superconductors). When
the magnetic field strength is gradually increased from its initial value C
HC H < H , at the diamagnetism is abruptly disappear and the transition
from superconducting state to normal state is sharp as shown in figure.
These superconductors are known as soft superconductors Examples: -
Al, Zn, Hg and Sn
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Difference between Type-1 & Type-2 Superconductors
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• Superconductor Applications
• Superconductors are used in particle accelerators,
generators, transportation, computing, electric
motors, medical, power transmission, etc.
• Superconductors are primarily employed for creating
powerful electromagnets in MRI scanners.
• These conductors are used to transmit power for long
distances.
• They are used in memory or storage elements.
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Nanomaterials or nanophase materials are the
materials which are made of grains that are about
100nm in diameter and contain less than
few ten thousands of atoms.
The grain sizes of the conventional materials vary from
few microns to few millimeters and contain several
billions of atoms.
SIZE
A meter is about the distance from the tip of your nose
to the end of your hand (1 meter = 3.28 feet).
Millimeter- One thousandth of meter.(10-3m)
Micron: a micron is a millionth of a meter (or) one
thousandth of millimeter (10-6m)
Nanometer:
A nanometer is one thousandth of a micron (10–9m)
(or) a billionth of a meter. ie.,one billion nanometers in
a meter.
Nano Particles are the particles of size between 1 nm to 100 nm
• 1 nm is only three to five atoms wide.
• ~40,000 times smaller than the width of an average human hair
Nanometer -One billionth (10-9) of a meter
• The size of Hydrogen atom 0.04 nm
• The size of Proteins ~ 1-20 nm
• Feature size of computer chips 180 nm
• Diameter of human hair ~ 10 µm
At the nanoscale, the physical, chemical, and biological properties of
materials differ in fundamental and valuable ways from the properties of
individual atoms and molecules or bulk matter
Why Nano Particles ?
For example, titanium dioxide and zinc oxide become transparent at the
nanoscale and have found application in sunscreens.
Nanoparticles have a range of potential applications:
In the short-term application such as in cosmetics, textiles and paints.
In the longer term applications such as drug delivery where they could be
to used deliver drugs to a specific site in the body.
Nanoparticles can also be arranged into layers on surfaces, providing a
large surface area and hence enhanced activity, relevant to a range of
potential applications such as catalysts.
Physics : The construction of specific molecules is governed by the physical forces between
the individual atoms composing them.
Nanotechnology will involve the continued design of novel molecules for specific
purposes.
Researchers need to understand how quantum physics affects the behavior of matter below a
certain scale.
Chemistry : The interaction of different molecules is governed by chemical forces.
Nanotechnology will involve the controlled interaction of different molecules, often
in solution.
Understanding how different materials interact with
each other is a crucial part of designing new nanomaterials
to achieve a given purpose.
Biology : A major focus of nanotechnology is the creation of small
devices capable of processing information and performing tasks on the
nanoscale.
The process by which information encoded in DNA is used to build
proteins, which then go on to perform complex tasks including the building
of more complex structures, offers one possible template.
Computer Science : Moore’s Law and its corollaries, the phenomena
whereby the price performance, speed, and capacity of almost every
component of the computer.
In communications industry has improved exponentially over the
last several decades, has been accompanied by steady miniaturization.
Electrical Engineering : To operate independently, nanodevices will need a
steady supply of power. Moving power into and out of devices at that scale
represents a unique challenge.
Within the field of information technology, control of electric signals is also
vital to transistor switches and memory storage.
A great deal of research is also going into developing nanotechnologies that
can generate and manage power more efficiently.
Mechanical Engineering :Even at the nanolevel issues such as load bearing,
wear, material fatigue, and lubrication still apply.
Detailed knowledge of how to actually build devices that do
what we want them to do with an acceptable level of confidence
will be a critical component of future research.
Properties of Nanomaterials:
For the fabrication of nanoparticles, a small size is not the only
requirement.
For any practical application, the processing conditions need to be
controlled in such a way that resulting nanoparticles have the following
characteristics:
(i) identical size of all particles (also called monosized or
with uniform size distribution)
(ii) identical shape or morphology,
(iii) identical chemical composition and crystal structure
The properties of materials can be different at the Nanoscale for two
main reasons:
First, Nanomaterials have a relatively larger surface area when compared to the
same mass of material produced in a larger form. Nano particles can make
materials more chemically reactive and affect their strength or electrical
properties.
Second, quantum effects can begin to dominate the behaviour of
matter at the Nanoscale
Nanoscale materials are divided into three category,
1. Zero dimension – length , breadth and heights are confined at single
point. (for example, Nano dots)
2. One dimension – It has only one parameter either length (or) breadth (or)
height ( example:very thin surface coatings)
3. Two dimensions- it has only length and breadth (for example, nanowires
and nanotubes)
4. Three dimensions -it has all parameter of length, breadth and height. (for
example, Nano Particles).
Properties of Nanomaterials
Zero-Dimensional Nanomaterials
One-Dimensional Nanomaterials
Two-Dimensional Nanomaterials
Three-Dimensional Nanomaterials
Quantum well
• It is a two dimensional system
• The electron can move in two directions and restricted in one direction.
Quantum Wire
• It is a one-dimensional system
• The electron can move in one direction and restricted in two directions.
Quantum dot
• It is a zero dimensional system
• The electron movement was restricted in entire three dimensions
There are two approaches for synthesis of
nano materials and the fabrication of nano
structures. Top down approach refers to
slicing or successive cutting of a bulk
material to get nano sized
particle. Bottom up approach refers to
the build up of a material from the bottom:
atom by atom, molecule by molecule or
cluster by cluster.
Figure: Schematic representation of the
building up of Nanostructures.
TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANTAGES OF NANOTECHNOLOGY AND NANOMATERIALS
1. IMPROVED TRANSPORTATION
Today, most airplanes are made from metal despite the fact that diamond has a
strength-to-weight ratio over 50 times that of aerospace aluminum.
Diamond is expensive, it is not possible to make it in the required shapes, and it
shatters. Nanotechnology will let us inexpensively make shatterproof diamond in
exactly the shapes we want.
Nanotechnology will dramatically reduce the costs and increase the capabilities of
space ships and space flight.
The strength-to-weight ratio and the cost of components are absolutely critical to the
performance and economy of space ships: with nanotechnology, both of these
parameters will be improved.
Nanotechnology will also provide extremely powerful computers
with which to guide both those ships and a wide range of other activities in space.
2. ATOM COMPUTERS
Today, computer chips are made using lithography -- literally, "stone
writing."
If the computer hardware revolution is to continue at its current pace, in a
decade or so we'll have to move beyond lithography to some new post
lithographic manufacturing technology.
Ultimately, each logic element will be made from just a few atoms.
Designs for computer gates with less than 1,000 atoms have already been
proposed -- but each atom in such a small device has to be in exactly the
right place.
To economically build and interconnect trillions upon trillions of such small
and precise devices in a complex three dimensional pattern we'll need a
manufacturing technology well beyond today's lithography: we'll need
nanotechnology.
With it, we should be able to build mass storage devices that can store
more than a hundred billion billion bytes in a volume the size of a sugar
cube;
RAM that can store a mere billion billion bytes in such a volume; and
massively parallel computers of the same size that can deliver a billion
billion instructions per second.
3. MILITARY APPLICATIONS:
Today, "smart" weapons are fairly big -- we have the "smart bomb" but not the "smart
bullet.“
In the future, even weapons as small as a single bullet could pack more computer power
than the largest supercomputer in existence today, allowing them to perform real time
image analysis of their surroundings and communicate with weapons tracking systems to
acquire and navigate to targets with greater precision and control.
We'll also be able to build weapons both inexpensively and much more rapidly, at the
same time taking full advantage of the remarkable materials properties of diamond.
Rapid and inexpensive manufacture of great quantities of stronger more precise weapons
guided by massively increased computational power will alter the way we fight wars.
Changes of this magnitude could destabilize existing power structures in unpredictable
ways.
Military applications of nanotechnology raise a number of concerns that prudence
suggests we begin to investigate before, rather than after, we develop this new technology.
4. SOLAR ENERGY : Nanotechnology will cut costs both of the solar cells and the equipment needed to
deploy them, making solar power economical. In this application we need not make new or technically
superior solar cells: making inexpensively what we already know how to make expensively would
move solar power into the mainstream.
5. Military Battle Suits: Enhanced nanomaterials form the basis of a state-of- the-art ‘battle suit’ that
is being developed. A short-term development is likely to be energy-absorbing materials that will
withstand blast waves; longer-term are those that incorporate sensors to detect or respond to
chemical and biological weapons (for example, responsive nanopores that ‘close’ upon detection
of a biological agent).
6. MEDICAL USES
It is not modern medicine that does the healing, but the cells themselves: we are but onlookers.
If we had surgical tools that were molecular both in their size and precision, we could develop a
medical technology that for the first time would let us directly heal the injuries at the molecular
and cellular level that are the root causes of disease and ill health.
With the precision of drugs combined with the intelligent guidance of the surgeon's scalpel, we
can expect a quantum leap in our medical capabilities.
• Quantum dot- that identify the location of cancer cells in the body.
• Nano Particles - that deliver chemotherapy drugs directly to cancer cells
to minimize damage to healthy cells.
• Nanoshells - that concentrate the heat from infrared light to destroy
cancer cells with minimal damage to surrounding healthy cells.
• Nanotubes- used in broken bones to provide a structure for new bone
material to grow.
Nano shells as Cancer Therapy
Nano shells are injected into cancer area and they recognize cancer cells. Then by applying
near-infrared light, the heat generated by the light-absorbing Nano shells has successfully killed
tumor cells while leaving neighboring cells intact.
6. Other Advantages
Less Pollution
The problem with past technologies is that they pollute the environment in cases where we humans would
die in years.
A good example of a bad polluting invention would be the automobile. The automobile ran on gas and the gas
fumes destroyed the ozone layer.
Multiple choice Questions
1 Nanostructures have sizes in between………
A 1 and 100 A0 B 1 and 100 nm
C 100 and 1000nm D None of the above
2 Nanoparticles are special mainly because of their………….
A Special area B Surface area
C Volume D Force
3 In a quantum wire, material size is reduced
A Special area B Surface area
C Volume D Force
4 Nanorobotics are also called as …………
A Special area B Surface area
C Volume D Force
5 AFM tip should have a radius of curvature of ………
A > than 20-50 nm B < than 20-50 nm
C 100 nm D none of above
6 Nanorobotocis are also called as ………………
A Nanobots B nanoids
C nanites D all above given
Q1 Define Nanomaterials & Explain in detail various applications.
Q2 Define Superconductors. Write a note on different types of
superconductors.
Q3 Write various characteristics of superconductors and
describe advance applications.
Q4 What are two approaches for synthesis of nano materials
explain with the help of diagram.
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