October 9, 2024 Update

National voting for the NNCI Plenty of Beauty at the Bottom Image Contest yielded one NanoEarth winner and one Honorable Mention. 

Maria P. Erazo-Garcia, Ph.D. Student and Frank Aylward, Ph.D., Associate Professor of the Department of Biological Sciences at Virginia Tech swept the Most Whimsical Submission Category with their “Teenage Viral Micro Turtles” image. 

Rupayan Ghosh, Graduate student and Feng Lin, Ph.D., Associate Professor, both in the Virginia Tech Department of Chemistry gained the Honorable Mention for the Most Unique Capability Submission Category with the “Advanced imaging of cathode active material degradation: insights through Helios 5 DualBeam system” image. 

Original Article

Local voting for the Virginia Tech slots in the 2024 NNCI Plenty of Beauty at the Bottom image competition has been completed. Each category received many wonderful images taken at the Nanoscale Characterization and Fabrication Laboratory (NCFL). Below are the three entries that were selected to move on to the NNCI competition.

Local Winners - Submitted to NNCI Competition 

Submission Category: Most Stunning

Title: Blossoms of Matter

Artists: Anika Promi, Graduate Research Assistant, Department of Chemistry, Virginia Tech and Feng Lin, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, Virginia Tech

Tool: JEOL-IT-500

Short Description: This is an image of a single secondary particle of a cathode material precursor [Ni0.33Fe0.33Mn0.33(OH)2], which is used in making cathodes for sodium-ion batteries. Thousands of nanosized primary flake-like particles aggregate to form this single cathode precursor particle, resembling the arrangement of a flower. My research focuses on investigating the effects of synthesis parameters on particle morphology and how they affect the electrochemical performance of Sodium-ion batteries. 

Submission Category: Most Unique Capability

Title: Advanced imaging of cathode active material degradation: insights through Helios 5 DualBeam system

Artists: Rupayan Ghosh, Graduate student, Department of Chemistry, Virginia Tech and Feng Lin, Ph.D., Associate Professor, Department of Chemistry, Virginia Tech

Tool: Helios 5 DualBeam System

Short Description: The image, captured with the state-of-the-art Helios 5 DualBeam system, showcases the cathode active material after extensive charge-discharge cycling. In order to investigate mechanical degradation, we used precise focused ion beam (FIB) milling to reveal the internal structure of the material, exposing the cross-section of secondary particles. The image highlights crack formation, a critical insight into the material's failure mechanisms during cycling. Our group specializes in synthesizing and testing cathode materials under various conditions, followed by post-mortem analysis. The addition of the Helios 5 DualBeam system at NCFL has significantly enhanced our ability to investigate these phenomena, supporting the development of more robust materials and helping us validate our hypotheses.

Submission Category: Most Whimsical 

Title: Teenage Viral Micro Turtles

Artists: Maria P. Erazo-Garcia, Ph.D. Student at Virginia Tech and Frank Aylward, Ph.D., Associate Professor of the Department of Biological Sciences, Virginia Tech

Tool: JEOL 2100 TEM

Short Description: Viruses can sometimes integrate within their host’s DNA, lurking in the shadows until the perfect conditions are met to reactivate once again. Viruses in the phylum Nucleocytoviricota, often called “giant viruses” are no exception. However, many of these viral sequences appear eroded, raising doubts about their viability. For the first time an endogenous giant virus in a green alga is shown to establish a latent infection, and it is the largest of its kind. The viral particles, collected from highly concentrated supernatants, are depicted here, inspired by the mythical World-bearing Turtle—this time carrying the giants of the microcosmos.

Honorable Mentions

Submission Category: Most Stunning 

Title: Complex Fibrous Environments of Spider Mites

Artists: Atharva Agashe, Ph.D. Student in Mechanical Engineering working for the STEP Lab at Virginia Tech and Justin Winberg, Undergraduate Student in Mechanical Engineering working for the STEP Lab at Virginia Tech 

Tool: Scanning Electron Microscope

Short Description: Research done at STEP Lab, VT, includes studying the adaptability of spider mites as they move on their natural webbing. We measure the locomotion dynamics and forces exerted by single spider mites on synthetic fiber networks, mimicking the natural webbing. In this SEM image taken at NCFL, VT, a spider mite attached to its web on a bean plant is about to take a step as it navigates its environment. The hairs of the spider mite allow it to grab onto thin nanofibers. The image shows the complex geometries the spider mites navigate to evade their predators.

Submission Category: Most Unique Capability

Title: Needle-Like LDH Aggregates Emerging within the Fiber

Artist: Yanan Pan, Ph.D. student, Graduate Research Assistant, Mining and Minerals Engineering, Virginia Tech 

Tool: High-resolution TEM (HRTEM)

Short Description: HRTEM was used to investigate the micro-morphology of the novel PAN/LDH fiber. The analysis revealed needle-like LDH aggregates irregularly on the fibers, either vertically distributed or horizontally aligned. This provides insights into the compositional distribution on the fibers, offering further guidance for fiber-based material design.

Submission Category: Most Whimsical

Title: Spheru-lions

Artists: Kira Baugh, Ph.D. Student in Moore Research Group at Virginia Tech, and Garrett Godshall Ph.D. Student in Moore Research Group at Virginia Tech

Tool: Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM)

Short Description: The SEM image pictured is a poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) aerogel that formed spherulites upon gelation.  Aerogels are extremely low-density solids, and this PET aerogel can balance on a dandelion without damaging it, which inspired us to draw their microstructure as a dandelion going to seed.  This image was taken using field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) on a Zeiss LEO using in-lens detection at Virginia Tech's Nanoscale Characterization and Fabrication Laboratory. The zoom on this image was 14,000x.