A University of Louisiana at Lafayette professor and four students are developing new materials using nanotechnology.
They rely on an electron microscope because the raw materials they work with are 10,000 times thinner than a human hair.
Nanomaterials can be applied in a variety of manufacturing processes and industries, explained Dr. Devesh Misra, director of the University’s Institute for Materials Research and Innovation. A materials science and engineering professor, he also holds the Stuller Endowed Chair in Metallurgy.
The National Science Foundation recently awarded him two grants totaling almost $720,000 to pursue two research projects.
One involves adding different polymers to carbon nanotubes to create lightweight materials with various qualities.
These new nanomaterials could be used to make barrier liners for storage tanks for the aerospace industry. Or, they could be used to create biomedical devices, including drug-delivery systems. By adding polymers that conduct electricity, they could be used to produce photovoltaic devices.
The UL Lafayette research is also aimed at solving a scientific mystery.
“When polymers are added to these carbon nanotubes, something surprising happens. We would expect the polymer to wrap around the outside of the tube, like a piece of cloth. Instead, it becomes part of the tube itself. No one knows why this happens,” Misra said.
The polymer takes the shape of disks, or partitions, along the tube. Misra has developed a process that relies on temperature to control this process.
“So, if we wanted to create a drug-delivery system, we may want to attach a drug molecule to the crystalline polymer discs. But we might not want to have those molecules too close to one another, because we don’t want the drugs to interact. So, we would space the polymer discs farther apart,” he said.
In addition to developing practical applications for the technology, Misra intends to generate a theory about why polymers become part of carbon nanotubes.
The other new NSF-funded project is related to metals created through nanotechnology.
These materials need to be strong, lightweight, and flexible. A highly malleable metal can be compressed without diminishing its structural integrity and stretched thin without cracking or breaking.
Hip or spine implants made of such material could replace conventional ones made of stainless steel. They would be lightweight, durable, and less likely to break down into metal particles that can cause tissue inflammation.
The nanocrystalline metal would have another advantage. “In creating these metals, we refer to grain size — the crystal size of the nanomaterial. The smaller the grain size, the easier it is for tissue to adhere to the implant, as the body heals,” Misra explained.
Four students will participate in the new research: one undergraduate and one graduate student for each project.