This IREE program entails a graduate student visiting the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (HKPU) to study the growth of CuO nanowires. These nanowires are useful for the synthesis of 3-D hybrid nanotube/nanowire/nanoparticle architectures proposed in the NER project. During the IREE visit, the growth of CuO nanowires by direct oxidation of surface mechanical attrition treated (SMAT) copper is investigated and compared to that of ordinary (non-SMAT) copper. The morphology, composition, and structure of the product CuO nanowires were analyzed using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), and small area electron diffraction (SAED). The growth rate of the CuO nanowires from SMAT copper was two to four times greater than non-SMAT copper, whereas the diameters were roughly the same (~100 nm). The accomplishment of this international research experience goes beyond the scientific results produced during the trip. The opportunity helped to strengthen existing networks, forging new collaborations, and instilled further appreciation for cultural diversity.

• super-administrator

Junhong Chen received the B.E. degree in Thermal Engineering from Tongji University, Shanghai, China, in 1995 and the M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, in 2000 and 2002, respectively. His graduate work focused on dc corona plasmas and corona-enhanced chemical reactions. From 2002 to 2003, he was a postdoctoral scholar in Chemical Engineering at California Institute of Technology, where he worked on arc plasma synthesis of nanoparticles. In August 2003, he became an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. He was promoted to Associate Professor with tenure in June 2008. His current research interests include nanoparticle synthesis, assembly, and nanofabrication, carbon nanotubes and hybrid nanomaterials, nanostructure-based gas sensors and biosensors, energy conversion, conservation, and renewable energy, sustainable environment and pollution control, and corona discharges and plasma reacting flows.

Jian Lu was a senior research engineer and the head of the laboratory (from 1990) of residual stress and coating adhesion at CETIM (French Technical of Mechanical Industry) from 1986 to 1994. Since 1994 he has been Professor, Head of the Department of Mechanical Systems Engineering (1994-2004) and Director of the mechanical systems and concurrent engineering laboratory (CNRS-FRE2719) (20 faculty members) at the University of Technology of Troyes, France. His recent research interests are: residual stress, multiaxial fatigue, biomaterial, metal matrix composite, nanomaterial, plasma spraying coating and thin film. He has published about 300 papers in above fields. He is a member of Editorial board of the Journal of Strain Analysis for Engineering Design, International Journal of Mechanics and Materials in Design. He has also served as an associate technical editor of Experimental Mechanics (International Journal of Society for Experimental Mechanics, USA, 1998-2001) and a member of Editorial board of the ACTA MECHINICA Sinica (2001-2004). He was a consultant expert for different worldwide leading companies in the field of Energy (Framatome, Alstom, EDF), Aerospace (EADS, Airbus, SNECMA), Automobile (Renault, PSA, Bosch) for about 20 years. In 2005 he became Chair Professor and Head of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University.

Researchers should cite this work as follows:

• (2009), "NER: Carbon Nanotube Coated with Nanoparticles - An Enabling Structure for Nanomanufacturing and Nanodevices ," http://globalhub.org/resources/1818.

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1. iree 2008
2. trip report