Winners of Second Image Contest Announced

Congratulations to the winners of our second user image contest! The contest was judged by (MC)2 staff. 

1st PlacePrashant Kumar, “Glowing Dendrites” (Image acquired from the FEI Helios 650 Nanolab SEM/FIB)

“Excess amounts of L-cysteine precipitates in a typical dendritic pattern, while clusters of cadmium line the edges of these dendrites giving it a glowing appearance. The precipitation occurs when the solution is supersaturated with L-cysteine. The image was taken using FEI Helios SEM at 1 kV and 100 pA of beam current to minimize the charging effect. The image is false colored using photoshop to enhance the dendritic pattern.”

Runners-Up:

Eric Kazyak, “Snow in the Forest” (Acquired from the FEI Nova SEM/FIB)

“This SEM image shows the branched nanostructures that make up the scales of a Morpho butterfly wing. The regular spacing interacts with visible light, giving the butterfly its famous iridescent blue coloration. The “snow” layer is a thin zinc oxide layer deposited by Atomic Layer Deposition to impart photocatalytic activity and tune the structural coloration across the visible spectrum. The branches are 50-100 nm wide, and the ZnO layer is 35 nm. I placed snowflakes in the background to reinforce the appearance.”

Naomi Ramesar, “Pyrite Reef” (Acquired from the FEI Nova SEM/FIB)

“Spherical FeSx supraparticles (SPs) are assembled from fiber-like assemblies. This intermediate-stage SEM image shows the existence of both stable SPs and fiber intermediates. To replicate the coral reefs of Trinidad and Tobago where I grew up, false color was used.”

Thomas Maulbeck, “Rutile Heartstrings” (Acquired from the FEI Helios 650 Nanolab SEM/FIB)

“These are rutile TiO2 crystals growing on the top surface of Ti-20 at.% Nb oxidized for 1h at 900C. The image was colorized, cropped and colormapped with “Reds” in Python to make the heart shaped centerpiece pinkish-red.”