Gallery: Science as Art: Nanoscale Materials Imitate Everything From Flowers to Frost
Picasa01freeze
Freeze ------ __Yang Hui Ying, Singapore University of Technology and Design (First Place)__ Technology imitates life: Organic nanowires with nanoparticle frost coating (left) closely resemble frosty pine needles (right). Such nanowires, if capable of conducting electricity, could be used to create flexible electronic circuits. Last year, scientists created a [self-assembling organic nanowire](http://www.nature.com/nchem/journal/v4/n6/full/nchem.1332.html) using electricity, light, and a molecule called triarylamine. When assembled, the material displayed unusually high, metal-like conductivity. *Image courtesy of the [Materials Research Society](www.mrs.org) Science as Art Competition and Yang Hui Ying, Singapore University of Technology and Design.*
02playful-hedgehog-particles
Playful Hedgehog Particles -------------------------- __Joong Hwan Bahng, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor (First Place)__ Digitally enhanced electron microscope image of nanoscale "Hedgehog" particles. These fuzzy-looking balls were created by growing rigid zinc-oxide nanowires on polymeric microspheres. *Image courtesy of the [Materials Research Society](www.mrs.org) Science as Art Competition and Joong Hwan Bahng, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.*
03castle-ruins-over-a-field-of-nanotubes
Castle Ruins Over a Field of Nanotubes -------------------------------------- __Julien Schweicher, University of California, San Francisco__ What looks like the wreckage of an interplanetary war is actually a scanning electron microscope image of a titanium dioxide nanotubular layer, after exposure to a buffered oxide etch solution. *Image courtesy of the [Materials Research Society](www.mrs.org) Science as Art Competition and Julien Schweicher, University of California, San Francisco.*
04divacancy
Divacancy --------- __Miguel Moreno Ugeda, University of California, Berkeley__ Graphene is a one-atom thick layer of carbon atoms, arranged in a hexagonal pattern resembling chicken wire or honeycomb. Scientists are studying what happens when atoms in these lattices are missing or substituted. Here, a double carbon vacancy has been captured with a scanning tunneling microscope. *Image courtesy of the [Materials Research Society](www.mrs.org) Science as Art Competition and Miguel Moreno Ugeda, University of California, Berkeley.*
05ferroelectric-centaur
Ferroelectric Centaur --------------------- __Stephen Jesse, Oak Ridge National Laboratory__ Ferroelectric materials store electric fields. Here, scientists have applied pressure to one of these materials -- lead zirconium titanate -- and imaged what happens to its electrical field orientation. Brightness indicates speed, and color indicates direction of motion of the electrical field. *Image courtesy of the [Materials Research Society](www.mrs.org) Science as Art Competition and Stephen Jesse, Oak Ridge National Laboratory.*
1996-98 AccuSoft Inc., All rights reserved06tetraaniline-in-full-bloom
Tetraaniline in Full Bloom -------------------------- __Yue Wang, University of California, Los Angeles (First Place)__ Be glad you can't smell this flower. It's made from thin sheets of aniline, a compound that smells like rotten fish. In this false-color image, the aggregated sheets in the upper right corner form a cluster looks like a flower, while other flexible sheets looks more like stems and leaves. These shapes combine high surface area with electrical conductivity, making this material ideal for organic supercapacitors and sensors. *Image courtesy of the [Materials Research Society](www.mrs.org) Science as Art Competition and Yue Wang, University of California, Los Angeles.*
07science-as-art-video
Science as Art, Video --------------------- Some of the Materials Research Society's favorite images from among the previous eight years of competition. *Video: Materials Research/[YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oxXXtiLO-bI)*
08nano-flowers
Flowers, cupcakes, tombstones and a giraffe are just a few of the objects scientists have coaxed materials into impersonating. Imaged through microscopes -- and with the help of a little artistic license -- complicated nanostructures can sometimes take on surprisingly familiar guises. Since 2005, the Materials Research Society has hosted a [Science as Art](http://www.mrs.org/science-as-art/) competition at both of its biannual meetings, challenging entrants to infuse a bit of creativity into the images of materials they meticulously manipulate and manufacture. This year's first-place winners, and a selection of our other favorites from the 2013 spring meeting are featured in this gallery. __Above:__ Nano-Flowers ------------ __Mulmudi Hemant Kumar, Nanyang Technological University (First Place)__ This lush bouquet is actually a false-color image of nanoflowers made from zinc-doped tin oxide. As structures, nanoflowers offer an enormous amount of surface area packed into a very small space, and could be useful in solar cells and batteries. *Image courtesy of the [Materials Research Society](www.mrs.org) Science as Art Competition and Mulmudi Hemant Kumar, Nanyang Technological University.*
