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Topical tutorials in Nanoscience & Advanced Materials

Nanoscience is the study of small scale matter, the minuscule building blocks of the material and biological worlds. Nanotechnologists are concerned with the behaviour of materials at these small dimensions and how they can be manipulated to do useful things. Thus the "science" of creating advanced materials whether nano-sized or not.

Through the two freshman years a range of about a dozen tutorials each year will educated students in the broader themes of nanotechnology. The purpose of these topical tutorials, listed here, is to examine topics in nanoscience and allow you to make connections between the future of nanoscience, nanotechnology and advanced materials and the topics that you study in Physics and in Chemistry in your freshman years. Thus educated you will make the most of your opportunities to be trained in nanoscience techniques in the Junior Sophister year and to take an active role in determining the nature and direction of your research project in your final year.

The "big" ideas or themes within nanoscience are as follows:

  • Size matters
  • Scaling laws
  • Surface-to-volume ratio
  • Surface dominated behaviour
  • "Bottom-up" vs "Top-down"
  • Self assembly
  • Quantum mechanics
  • Size-dependent properties
  • Thermodynamics - change of states
  • Tools, instruments & characterisation
  • Models and simulations
  • Societal impact

The sum total of the tutorials over the course of two years will seek to address these topics while making specific use of topics of interest in the news or of concern to researchers within the TCD Schools of Chemistry and Physics and of the CRANN research institute.

List of topical tutorials in Nanoscience and Advanced Materials 2014-2015

Students should research the topics in advance given the reference material and further keywords.

List of topical tutorials in Nanoscience and Advanced Materials 2013-2014

List of topical tutorials in Nanoscience and Advanced Materials 2012-2013

List of topical tutorials in Nanoscience and Advanced Materials 2011-2012


Last updated 12 September 2018 NPCAM@tcd.ie.