NUE: Lab-on-a-chip Nanomanufacturing in Freshman Engineering Tomasko/Merrill/Stevenson Nano-structured Ceramics as Chemical Sensors

Introduction and Background: Ceramics are inorganic, nonmetallic materials, such as alumina, beryllia, or glassceramic, whose final characteristics are produced by subjection to high temperatures. Nanomaterials is a rapidly growing area of ceramics [1-3] and can be classified into the following categories: Nano-particles submicron or ultra micron size particles; Nano-fibers – nanometer (nm) size material with a large aspect ratio (length/diameter); Nano-films nano-grained thin-films; Nano-crystalline alloys alloys having grain sizes of 1 to 50 nm; Nano-composite composite materials which utilize nano-scale reinforcements of one type of material inside a different matrix material; Nano-crystalline solids polycrystals 1-10 nm in size such that ¡Ý 50% of the solid consists of inherent interface between crystals of different orientation; and Nano-structures – bulk intact structures with nano-scale features such as pores, fibers and channels.