Workshop: Nanotechnology

By Wilfredo Otaño

Nanotechnology is the science that works with materials within the scale of 100 nm

or smaller. This technology gives us the ability to understand and manipulate physical and

technological characteristics of systems. The physical, chemical, and biological

characteristics of materials differ at this nanometer scale, and scientists can have advantage

of this and apply this technology in different purposes. An advantage of nanotechnology is

that materials have more superficial area, and this can induce more catalytic reactions, more

toughness of materials, and a higher chemical reactivity. In the lab I saw the creation of a

censor that detects hydrogen. First of all, we used a substrate of silicon that was oxidized

by heat. Above the substrate there were fibers of polyethylene oxide that were created by

electrospining. This process uses an electrical charge to draw very fine fibers from a liquid.

Then, using the technique of sputtering, which consists of bombarding a substrate with

materials, creating thin films, a layer of palladium was added to the fibers. Afterwards, it

was bombarded again with gold at the ends of the censor, but this time a mask was placed

in the center of it. Then, the mask was removed, and the censor was tested. Finally, it was

how fast it detected hydrogen concentrations.