The shape-dependent optical properties of metal nanostructures have motivated efforts to correlate nanoparticle structure with plasmonic behavior. In particular, gold bipyramids (BPs) are of interest due to their sharp tips that lead to strong localized field enhancement and high sensitivity to the surrounding environment.
Northwestern MRSEC provides the physical and intellectual infrastructure to nucleate collaborative opportunities in materials research both on and off the Northwestern campus, and continues to leverage its diverse portfolio of research into new educational and commercial opportunities. Recent examples include:
Teaching the Teachers
Electromagnetism at the Physical Sciences Inquiry Academy
These fifth-grade teachers are building electromagnetic ping pong ball launchers to demonstrate electromagnetism to their students.
Utah MRSEC leads lessons and activities for teachers, as well as provides educational kits which supplement curriculum andcoordinate with Utah Core Standards.
What’s the Problem? Macrophages are part of the innate immune system and will try to eat anything they don’t recognize as being part of the body — they’re like border patrol guards, checking everybody’s passports. If you’re a red blood cell, you have the right passport and get waved on.
The electronic properties of thin films with thicknesses of only a single molecular layer have in the past typically been far worse than thicker films of the same material.
During the summer of 2012, Hitachi Inc. loaned the UW-MRSEC education group a table-top scanning electron microscope for use during education and outreach activities. Thirteen fifth-graders synthesized ZnO nanoparticles then used the SEM to examine their particles.
NanoVenture is a board game developed by the UW-MRSEC Interdisciplinary Education Group (IEG) to teach audiences about the connections between Nanotechnology and society. In 2012, with permission from the UW-MRSEC IEG, the Education Center Uchastie translated the game into Russian and they will be distributing it to schools in Russia as part of the School League of RUSNANO project.
The nanoscale structural and compositional features of molecular beam epitaxy (MBE)-grown GaAs1−yBiy films have been successfully characterized with unprecedented precision by researchers of the Wisconsin MRSEC using high-resolution x-ray diffractometry and high-resolution high-angle annular dark field (HAADF or “Z-contrast”) imaging in a scanning transmission electron mic
Colloidal gels are formed by aggregation of particles into a percolating network in liquid media. Although colloidal gels exhibit self-supporting, solid-like properties that underlie the design of a wide range of materials, how this class of soft solids forms is not yet fully understood. In particular, the relative importance of thermodynamic and dynamic
