The latest news from academia, regulators
Posted: Jan 25, 2014
Alien monsters and other amazing nanotechnology images
(Nanowerk News) Here is another installment of our collection of amazing images from nanotechnology labs from all over the world. You can find other nanotechnology images here.
Visualization methods provide an important tool in materials science for the analysis and presentation of scientific work. Images can often convey information in a way that tables of data or equations cannot match. Occasionally, scientific images transcend their role as a medium for transmitting information, and contain the aesthetic qualities that transform them into objects of beauty and art.
As a special feature of recent MRS Meetings, the MRS has offered the popular Science as Art competitions, with entry open to all registered meeting attendees. The images below represent the winners of the 2013 MRS Fall Meeting Science as Art competition.
Alien – A piece of debris on a sample covered with MBE-grown InAs nanowires. Seen with the electron microscope. (Image courtesy of the Materials Research Society Science as Art Competition and Marcel Mueller, IMS TU Dortmund)
Crystal rose – Scanning electron microscopy image of a 50 micrometer high self-assembled micro-flower made from barium carbonate and silica. (Image courtesy of the Materials Research Society Science as Art Competition and Wim Noorduin, Harvard University)
Down the rabbit hole: Adventures in nanoscienceScanning electron microscopy of a cracked inverse opal scaffold used in microbattery electrodes. (Image courtesy of the Materials Research Society Science as Art Competition and James Pikul, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign)
A family portrait of magnetic dipoles A family portrait of magnetic droplets. The image is a composite photograph of ferrofluid droplets on a superhydrophobic surface at varying magnetic field strengths. The "eyes" are reflections from two lamps. (Image courtesy of the Materials Research Society Science as Art Competition and Robin Ras, Aalto University)
Desert landscape on micron scale – A scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image of GaAs substrate cleavage plane after nanowire growth. The hill and cliff structures result from imperfect alignment with the cleavage plane orientation while cleaving the substrate. Features that resemble cactus and bushes result from nanowire growth. During nanowire growth, the sides of the substrate (cleavage planes) are exposed to nanowire growth conditions and heterogeneous nucleation of nanowires may occur. The top of the substrate, where nanowires nucleate and grow in a controlled manner has the scientific importance; however, the side of the substrate can give rise to interesting images. This image is constructed by stitching two SEM images and cropping the desired portion. (Image courtesy of the Materials Research Society Science as Art Competition and Sema Ermez, Massachusetts Institute of Technology)