MVC 6 Awards Gallery

“SILICON NANO-TREE“

Sarah Eichfeld, Research Associate, Materials Science and Engineering

Scientific Process: Silicon nanowire arrays were grown via atmospheric pressure chemical vapor deposition using silicon tetrachloride (SiCl4) as the precursor and gold as the catalyst material. Once the the LEO 1530 FESEM in the Penn State Nanofab. arrays are grown the Au catalyst is removed and the nanowire arrays were oxidized. Prior to removal of the oxide we are left with a nanowire tree surrounded by a forest of nanowires. The image was taken b

FIRST PLACE

“POLYMER MICRO-CONTAINER“

Pouria Fattahi, Graduate Student, Chemical Engineering

Scientific Process: FESEM image of conducting polymer nano-structured around microflattened biodegradable polymer to improve electrical properties of electrodes. The fabrication process includes electrospraying of
poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA) flattened microspheres on the surface of electrode (0.5cm x 0.5cm), followed by electrochemical polymerization of EDOT monomer doped with Perchlorate (Clo4-) around PLGA flattened
microspheres. This microstructure morphology significantly increases the effective surface area of the electrode. As a result, the impedance of the electrode decreases and charge capacit density increases significantly

SECOND PLACE

“ALUMINUM NITRIDE ‘CROP CIRCLE’“

Zakaria Al Balushi, Graduate Student, Materials Science and Engineering / EPM

Scientific Process: Field-emission scanning electron micrograph of nano-crop cirle formation during the nucleation and growth of Aluminum Nitride thin films on ntrogen doped epitaxial graphene layers by Metal Organic Chemical Vapor Deposition.

THIRD PLACE

“CROSS SECTION OF TiN COATING“

Amar Kamat, Graduate Student, Engineering Science and Mechanics

Scientific Process: The image shows an optical micrograph of the transverse cross-section of a titanium nitride coating on a commercially pure titanium (CP-Ti) sample. The titanium nitride coating was deposited by traversing the CP-Ti specimen under a nitrogen plasma sustained by a CO2 laser and a coaxial flow of nitrogen. The cross section clearly shows the TiN coating, the heat affected zone and the base metal. Dendritic crystal growth of TiN is observed due to rapid solidification. 

FIRST PLACE

“TETRATHIAFULVALENE-Au FLOWERS“

Mengquian Lu, Graduate Student, Engineering Science and Mechanics

Scientific Process: Tetrathiafulvalene (TTF)-metal complexes are widely used for organic conductors. The morphology and physical properties of TTF-metal complexes are highly sensitive to the reaction conditions. Microfluidic reactors
can be used to control and finely tune the reaction conditions to obtain shape-controlled synthesis of TTF-metal structures. This image shows the flowers and leaves structures synthesized by a microfluidic reactor. The absorption of TTF on the gold (111) plane confines the growth of gold crystals into thin and flat petals, which are colored blue. The fast crystallization process of gold crystals wraps TTF molecules inside, and later the TTF can be dissolved into the solutions,
leaving porous holes in the petals. Neutral and oxidized TTF can interact and form 1D crystallization. During nonequilibrium growth process, the neutral and oxidized TTF forms leaf-like dendritic fractal structures, which are colored green

SECOND PLACE

“PEROVSKITE PZT PATCHWORK“

Adarsh Rajashekhar, Graduate Student, Materials Science and Engineering

Scientific Process: Heating by a pulsed KrF excimer laser with 25 ns pulsewidth caused the growth of perovskite PZT phase with rosette-shaped microstructure from a pyrochlore matrix. A nucleation event occurs at the center of the rosette and spreads radially. The highly thermal non-equilibrium conditions existing during the short duration laser heating caused tiny grains to form and self-assemble as patterns with periodicity on the order of ~25 mn. Intriguingly enough, complex patterns in nature are also known to occur through processes far from equilibrium! Here, each individual rosette has radial stripes, and the only line that continues all the way from the top edge of the image to the bottom is where two different rosettes run into each other.

THIRD PLACE

“LEAD OXIDE CRYSTALLITES“

Dan Marincel, Graduate Student, Materials Science and Engineering / Materials Research Institute

Scientific Process: This FESEM image presents conducting polymer micro spherical cavities (CPMSCs) designed for triggered delivery of drug agents from opening space using electrical stimulation. Fabrication process includes electrochemical polymerization of conducting polymer monomer around microspheres using hard template method. Next step is dissolving hard templates in solvent to obtain open cavities. Most significant achievement is that we are able to control openings of microcavities by adjusting electrochemical deposition parameters.