NANOTECHNOLOGY IN TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS

INVITED PAPER DELIVERED AT THE ANNUAL ENGINEERING CONFERENCE OF THE NIGERIAN

SOCIETY OF ENGINEERS (NSE)—CANAAN 2011BY ENGR. PROFESSOR D.O.N.OBIKWELU FNSE, FNMS, SPX

UNIVERSITY OF NIGERIA, NSUKKA

PREAMBLE

• I wish to congratulate and appreciate the Nigerian Engineers especially the members of the technical committee for inviting me to talk on Nanotechnology… the-in-thing in modern science, engineering and technology and most importantly on its impact on Transportation Systems.

• My Presentation Format is as follows: Introduction--- Nano Story. Challenges of Transportation Systems. Nanoscience and nanotechnology on Transportation. Health, Safety and Environment(HSE) implications of this

new field. Conclusion---Any take-home for the Nigerian Engineer?

INTRODUCTION: NANO STORY

The new field of nanoscience and nanotechnology was attributed to Richard Feynman, a Physics Professor at California Institute of Technology, a Nobel Prize Laurettewho in his work on quantum electrodynamics postulated that there is plenty of room at the bottom of materials and asked a question,”Can we handle materials the way nature has done?”

• Nano is a size scale and a nanometer is one billionth of a meter, 10-9 meter. Nano materials have size features on the scale of around 1nm to 100nm.

• The term nanotechnology was coined by a Japanese, Taniguchi in 1974 to roughly describe traditional machining down to smaller than one micron of silicon.

• The study, design, application, production and development of materials with features of that size range is nanoscienceand nanotechnology.

NANO STORY CONTD.

• Building units of matter are in nanoscale… hydrogen atom is 0.1nm in size, molecules about 1nm in diameter, human cells ranging from 5000 to 200,000nm.

• An average human hair is about 80,000 nanometer wide.

• The gold particles sprinkled unto glass windows by early glass workers to create beautiful colors especially on church windows are gold nanoparticles.

• Even the Gunier and Preston zones popularly known as G-P zones observed in the Al-Cu alloy systems since 1939 were disks of diameter 80 x 10-10 meter and thickness 3 to 6 x 10-10 meter on the aluminum lattice fell into the nano size range and were the source of strength behind those materials.

NANO STORY

• Nano particles have high surface to volume ratio creating new quantum mechanical effects and a new field of nanomechanics.

• Nanomaterials with novel mechanical properties resulted from nanomechanics approach to materials development.

• The reduction in the size scale shows different and unique properties compared to what they exhibit on a micro-scale, for example

materials like copper which is opaque become transparent when it is nano.

inert platinum becomes catalytic in nanoform. aluminum in nano form becomes combustible, gold in nano form turns liquid at room temperature, insulators like silicon become conductors in nanoform.

NANO STORY AND QUANTUM MECHANICS

• Continuum mechanics direct things such as gravity and Newton’s laws change when we drop down to nanoscale.

• Quantum Mechanics or discrete processes which describe special properties of matter at the smallest levels take over from Continuum Mechanics in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology.

• Nanomaterials behave quantum mechanically according to the quantum theory.

• Things that happen at nanoscale do not happen at macro or bulk scales…. Here lies the curiosity and excitement in nanomaterials and its technology.

SOME NANOMATERIALS

• FULLERENES, C60 are allotropes of carbon made from graphene sheets rolled into tubes or spheres.

• Graphene are formed from worm-like graphite. • Fullerenes include carbon nanotubes or silicon

nanotubes which are of interest because of their mechanical strength and electrical properties.

• They can be used to bind specific antibiotics to attack resistant bacteria and cancer cells.

• They can be produced when high voltage is sent between two graphite electrodes in an inert atmosphere. The resulting carbon plasma arc between the electrodes cools into sooty residue from which many fullerenes can be isolated.

FULLERENES

DEVELOPMENT OF FULLERENE, AN ALLOTROPE OF CAFBON

• Smalley and coworkers at Houston U.S.A developed this new class of carbon material called fullerenes nicknamed buckyball but officially known as Buckminster fullerene in honor of an inventor and architect R.Buckminster who designed and built the first geodesic dome.

• In April 2005 Students at Rice University Houston built the world largest nanotube with 65000 blue plastic balls to enter the Guiness Book of Records.

• Imagine the normal conductor electric cable with copper wire coated with rubber (note the dimensions and weight) and the conductor nanotubeinside a bigger diameter nanotube (note the nanodimensions and weight) and consider the efficiency of this nano conductor, size, cost? etc).

TOYING WITH ATOMS USING NANOHANDS.

CARBON NANOTUBE

NANOMATERIALS AND THEIR FEATURES

• NANOMATERIALS made of nanoparticles are nanocrystalsfrom metals, semiconductors, oxides and polymers.

• They are of great scientific importance as they are a bridge between bulk materials and atomic or molecules.

• They exhibit size-dependent properties such as quantum confinement in semiconductors, surface plasmon resonance in some metals and super-paramagnetism in magnetic materials, copper nanoparticles smaller than 50nm are super hard and neither malleable nor ductile unlike the wire or ribbon copper from copper bulk material which are ductile and malleable.

• Ferroelectric nanomaterials, less than 10nm can switch their magnetization direction using room temperature thermal energy thus making them useless for memory storage

NANOMATERIALS CONTD.

• Gold nanoparticles appear deep red to black in solution.

• Nanoparticles provide tremendous driving force because of the high surface area to volume ratio.

• Their surface effects reduce the incipient melting temperature.

QUANTUM DOTS

NANOMATERIALS CONTD.

• Quantum dots are semiconducting nanoparticles like cadmium sulphide, cadmium telluride, cadmium selenide which are able to trap electrons in small spaces.

• Qdots as they are called contain a single amount of charge and fluoresce depending on the size and specific energy levels.

• The quantum dots fluoresce in different colors of the spectrum depending on their size and composition.

• Quantum dots have been used in live cell molecular dynamics monitoring for protein-protein interaction, disease detection in deeper tissues and cancer detection.

• Carbon nanoparticles have been used as a reinforcing agent for polymeric materials at the University of Nigeria, Nsukka.

• Qdots, quantum wires (line),quantum wells (flat) confine electrons to negligible dimensions comparable to deBrogle’swavelength (wavelength=h/mv); h=plank’s constant, m=particle mass, v=velocity of the particle)

NANOMATERIALS CONTD.

• Nanoshell (gold coated silica) with novel light absorption and reflectivity absorbs infra red and so prevents infra red (13cm) penetration of human tissue.

• Nanoscale silica used as dental fillers.• Nano whiskers used as stain resistant additives

to fabrics. Such nano treated fabrics become hydrophobic and repel penetrating stains.

• Nanorobots (nanobots) from molecular assemblers… dangerous beings and concepts that should be used in sustaining humanity and not fighting it.

NANO MATERIALS STRUCTURES CONTD.

• gold nanorods, • nanocomposites, • nanomulti-layer structures, • plasmonic materials for biosensing and optical applications, • Nanocomposites (nanoscale particles in plastics, ceramics and

metal). • nanoparticles doped with rare-earth elements for the

production of luminescent metals applied to the design of LEEDS (light emitting diodes),

• solar cells, • lenses, • nanodiamond obtained by explosion of carbon dioxide.• Nanocrystalline materials generally include of 1 to 100nm and

they strong, hard, ductile at high temperatures, wear, corrosion resistant and chemically active because of the high surface to volume ratio.

CHALLENGES IN TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS

• As the world human population is increasing in geometrical progression, passenger vehicles are trailing in arithmetical progression.

• In 2002 alone 55 million passenger vehicles were sold in a developing country.

• Pollution, safety, aesthetics, traffic monitoring, weight, better performance and engine efficiency (fuel savings) top the list in the challenges of the automobile system.

• In the aerospace safety, weight, power consumption, electronics, air purification ,sensors and controls, actuators, traffic monitoring and electromechanical systems constitute the major challenges.

• Nanotechnological development could be the answer to the problems posed by the current world population of about 7 billion people.

IMPACT OF NANOTECHNOLOGY ON TRANSPORTATION SYSTEMS

Nanotechnology has answers to many transportation problems• Materials and Coatings of transportation vehicles: Development of nano carbon fibres that are 100x stronger

than steel at one-sixth the weight. Carbon nanotubes coatings, nanocomposites for structural

reinforcement and safety, antifog coatings for windscreens and mirrors, self cleaning, self coating, anti-corrosion coatings, fuel filter housings, smart tyres.

Replacement of carbon black with nanoparticles of inorganic clay and polymers for tyres that are environmentally friendly and wear resistant.

New cooling fluids and ferrofluids. Low friction nanocomposite coatings. Car rear windows, car fenders are replaced with plastic

composites strengthened by carbon nanotubes or nanoclay for performance and safety.

ENERGY

For Energy considerations this new field has produced Nanosensors that monitor vehicle emissions and trigger

traps of pollutants. High efficiency solar cells for powering various systems. Hydrogen storage for fuel cell– advanced electrodes coated

with nanoNiFe catalysts to accelerate the production of clean hydrogen for industrial applications.

Carbon based nanostructures that serve as hydrogen super-sponges in vehicle fuel cells.

Energy accumulators ---battery cells are positioned between a super capacitor and a battery permitting rapid power charging and discharging which can be useful in regenerative braking for hybrid cars and buses.

ENERGY

Nanocatalysts (nanoparticle catalysts for fuel economy). Nanoadditives for lubricants and cleaning, self-cleaning,

antifogging (antidew),antiabrasion, anticorrsion self-repairing coatings in use in Toyota, General Motors, Ford and RollsRoyce.

Large amount of engine heat loss especially from diesel engines can be avoided by coating engine cylinders with nanocrystalline ceramics like zirconia and alumina.

There is possibility in this new field of developing alternatives to gasoline and diesel powered engines by storing efficiently hydrogen in nanoporous materials that would enable hydrogen powered cars.

PAINTS AND COATINGS

• This new field introduced

Carbon nanotube-based paints.

Materialsfor the nano coating of metallic surfaces to achieve super hardening, low friction and enhanced corrosion protection of transportation structures.

NIGHT VISION SYSTEMS

• High transmittance infra red polymers embedded with nanoparticles.

• High sensitive IR sensors that continually monitor the condition of the roads, bridges and other infrastructure.

• Carbon air quality monitoring.

INTERIORS OF TRANSPORTATION VEHICLES

Nanotechnology introduced Advanced functionalized textiles.. Nanofibers are

weaved into the fabric making it water-proof, dirt resistant, breathable and wind proof.

Nanofilters for air control. Electrochromic glasses Onboard information (thin film displays,

interactive glasses, microshutter displays based on carbon nanotubes).

LIGHTING

• The field has also made inroads into lighting in the following

Electro-optical films. New lighting sources Electro chromic coatings. Optical switches

AUTOMOTIVE BRAKE SYSTEM

• Braking system weight (and total car weight can drop reasonably well) by using aluminium or nanotube composites in the braking system while increasing acceleration.

IGNITION SYSTEM

• Spark plugs electrodes wear out fast because of hot corrosion and erosion during the burning of gasoline.

• This new field introduces nanomaterials in the spark plug system which are stronger, harder and more wear and erosion resistant. The new plug called railplug made from nanomaterials last longer and burn faster and more efficiently than regular spark plugs.

NANOTECHNOLOGY IN TRAFFIC MONITORING

• Many people in Europe and the United States now integrate intelligent transport systems(ITS) into their transportation system infrastructure to help monitor and manage traffic flow and reduce congestion.

• Traffic flow sensors provide real time information for various services like traffic signal control toll road metering or on-board navigation systems.

• Carbon nanotube/cement composite nanosensors that could relate compressive stresses developed by vehicle loading and the electrical resistance in the sensors have been developed.

• This self sensing nanocomposite cement has potential for traffic monitoring use such as in vehicle detection, weight –in-motion measurement and vehicle speed detection.

TRAFFIC MONITORING

An interesting aspect of this work is that, from the eventual traffic application's point of view, the pavement itself would become the traffic detection, thus eliminating the need for separate traffic flow

detection sensors. Illustration of self-sensing concrete pavement for traffic flow detection. (Reprinted with permission from IOP Publishing)

TRAFFIC FLOW MONITORING

• Researchers at the University of Minnesota in the United States, Professor Yu and Co-workers developed piezoresistive thin-walled carbon nanotube sensors.

• For efficiency in operation the carbon nanotubes should be well dispersed in the cement.

• Using the nanocomposite as pavement material makes the pavement itself a traffic detector eliminating the need to have a separate traffic flow detection sensors.

MISCELLANEOUS IMPACTS

Use of smart materials that monitor and assess their own status and repair any defect thus avoiding unexpected failure or fire.

Use of nano-base communication systems like nanosensors that continually monitor the condition of and performance of roads, bridges and other infrastructures.

In space transportation like supersonic aircraft, low power, radiation hardened computing units for autonomous space vehicles space systems are miniaturized like in smart sensors and probes.

Nanosensors that monitor vehicle emissions and trigger traps for pollutants have been referred to earlier.

MISCELLANEOUS IMPACTS CONTD.

Smart sensors applied to car windows are excellent for collision avoidance and chemical/biological weapon detection at airports.

Nancatalysts reduce or eliminate emission of pollutants from the engine.

Photonic nanodevices replace the heavy and costly radio frequency transmission, monitor and control, sense physical variables around a transportation system.

IMPACT OF NANOTECHONOLOGY:SUMMARIZED IN AN AUTOMOBILE BELOW

HEALTH, SAFETY AND ENVIRONMENT(HSE) IMPLICATIONS

• We know that every stride into technology to solve human problems is accompanied by risks and dangers, after-all the environment will not like it, so

•Specialized approaches for testing and monitoring the effects of these nano materials on human health and the environment should be developed along our determination to harness the potentials of nanotechnology in transportation.

•HSE information on nanotechnology is available at http://www.hse.gov.uk/pubns/hsinf1.pdf

•It might be necessary to develop a type of Geiger counter for detection and measure of nanoparticleson the human operating in nanoenvironment.

NANOTECHNOLOGY CLEANS THE ENVIRONMENT!!!

• When pollutants have destroyed some key members of the ecosystem, nanotech can come to the rescue by using molecular machinery and new molecular manufactured products to break down toxic materials.

• Nanotech can break down pollutant materials that are not biodegradable .

• Nanotech through remediation can re-initiate activities that have been discontinued because some key elements in the ecosystem like microbes have been destroyed by uncontrolled pollution.

• Nanotech clean-up restores the ecosystem activities and the environment will be continuously clean.

WHAT DO ALL THESE MEAN TO THE NIGERIAN ENGINEER!!!

• Will the Nigerian Engineer ensconce himself or herself like some other Nigerians to squander and devastate the fruits of the land waiting for the Creator that had long finished creating to come to his or her rescue?

• The Nigerian Society of Engineers is urged to support this innovative technology with all her might by constituting a Committee on Nanotechnology for National Development and driving it to the highest levels of Government, realizing that this new Technology which is naturally gaining popularity worldwide could be the answer to the many problems of man in his environment……the world.

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