Researchers/Artists: Seth Darling, Muruganathan Ramanathan
In order to invent new materials to use in better batteries, solar cells and other technological advances, scientists must delve deeply into the nanoscale—the nearly atomic scale where structures determine how materials react with each other. At the nanoscale, anything can happen; materials can change colors and form into astonishing structures. Here are some of the results from studies at the nanoscale.
This is a bright-field optical micrograph of a thin film of poly(styrene-block-ferrocmyldimethylsilane) block copolymer. The structure is formed by hybrid thermal/solvent annealing of the polymer. Crystallization of the PFS block competes with self-assembly of various nanoscale morphologies in a complex balance to produce these structures.
