The Institute
Over the last few years a great interest has aroused in scientific, technological and strategic research in Catalonia. Support from the Generalitat of Catalonia has allowed for the creation of a number of different research institutions and centres including the Institut Català de Nanotecnologia (ICN), a young but fast and steadily growing research institution with the aim to become internationally recognized within the field of nanaoscience and nanotechnology.
Nanoscience is not revolution of concepts- as we experienced at the beginning of the last century with the birth of the theory of relativity and quantum mechanics. Nanoscience is a revolution of phenomena. Two basic aspects have provided the base for the research of the nanoworld: the low dimensional scale of objects at nanometer level and the relevance of surface effects, where the understanding and control of self-assembling nanostructures is one of the most interesting challenges today. I do believe that the study of nanotechnology will lead the way to a second post-industrial revolution.
At the end of the last century an explosion occurred in the research and application of materials and structures under nanometric control. The results of these efforts have already had, and will continue to have, an enormous impact on all ambits of society. The credit for the onset of the "nanoscience revolution" is due to the advancement and maturity in different areas of science like the confluence of aspects such as the synthesis and deposit of nanostructured materials, the use of new characterization techniques derived from the first tunnel effect microscopy device and the implementation of more realistic-theoretical approaches to understand and predict the behaviour of complex systems. All of them have inspired the creation of nanoscience.
We are now working in a world where basic research, applications and completion of commercial products are closely linked. The challenges are even greater ahead if you take into account that in this nano-world problem solving is webbed and collaboration of physicists, chemists, biologists, clinicians and engineers is fully necessary.
There is a wide array of subjects that we could choose to deal with but the ICN has neither the capacity nor the aim to embrace them all. The ICN is nestled amongst a number of noteworthy research centres in the Autonomous University of Barcelona dealing with the study of phenomena and the development of systems and devices, basically in the inorganic area. The ICN has established research aimed at nanophysics and nanochemistry that frontier with nanobiology and nanobiomedicine.
More specifically, the ICN is focused on theoretical study, experimental observation and control of matter at the nanometric scale, synthesis and fabrication, functionalization, characterization and applications of nanoparticles and carbon nanotubes and the development of nanosensors. A significant part of our research will also be devoted to societal demands and strategies that implicate metrology, instrumentation, energy and the environment.
The ICN also has a commitment to the university environment in which it is located. We will be involved in the training of students and industrial doers and participate in masters and PhD courses in order to contribute to the spread of knowledge.
I hope that this web page has been of assistance to you and has communicated the objectives of the ICN and depicted our research potential.
Jordi Pascual
