Engineering at the Nanoscale with Carbon Materials : Pulickel M. Ajayan (Rice University)
Abstract Biography Host: Prof. Seamus Curran 634 S & R 1 - 4PM
The talk will focus on approaches used to engineer carbon nanostructures and their hybrids into functional architectures. Various organized architectures of nanotubes can be fabricated using relatively simple processes and the work in attaining control on the directed assembly of these structures will be highlighted. Some of these structures offer excellent opportunity to probe novel nanoscale behavior. We have pursued several novel applications for carbon nanomaterial based structures, for example, sensors, horizontal and vertical electrical interconnects, unique filters for separation technologies, thermal management systems, polymer infiltrated composites, and energy storage. Some of these promising applications of carbon nanostructures will be reviewed from the perspective of what has been accomplished in recent years. Our efforts on the strategies of growth and manipulation of nanotube structures and our recent success in controllably fabricating heterogeneous and complex nanostructures will be highlighted.
A pioneer in nanotechnology, Prof. Ajayan has been one of the key figures in the development of carbon nanotube technologies. He is currently the Benjamin M. and Mary Greenwood Anderson Professor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science Department, Rice University, Texas. Dr. Ajayan’s group moved from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) after ten years there as a key player in nanomaterials and nanotechnology applications. He was the Director of the RPI Interconnect Focus Center, New York. He is a well-known materials researcher in areas of nanomaterials, electron microscopy, and nanocomposites. His research goals are oriented towards developing multifunctional nanostructures and hybrid platforms that would have applications in diverse fields such as alternative energy storage, structural composites, sensors, electronic devices and bio-medical applications. Prof. Ajayan has authored or co-authored more than 300 publications which include over 20 Nature and 8 Science articles, two books, and his work has received more than 13,000 citations. He is on the editorial boards of several materials science and nanotechnology journals, and serves as advisory board member in many nanotech companies. Prof. Ajayan has won several awards such as the MRS medal and the Burton medal from the Microscopy Society of America. He was selected as one of 2006 Scientific American 50 by the Scientific American Magazine and has also been selected as Nano50TM Innovator by Nanotech Briefs (2007). Prof. Ajayan received his bachelor degree from Banaras Hindu University (India) in 1985, doctoral degree from Northwestern University in 1989 and had research positions in many countries including Japan, France and Germany.