AI technique 'decodes' microscope images, overcoming fundamental limit

“We’ve given a proof-of-concept and shown how to use AI to significantly improve AFM images, but this work is only the beginning”

12-Mar-2024 - Atomic force microscopy, or AFM, is a widely used technique that can quantitatively mapmaterial surfaces in three dimensions, but its accuracy is limited by the size of the microscope’sprobe. A new AI technique overcomes this limitation and allows microscopes to resolve material features ...

Previously unseen processes reveal path to better rechargeable battery performance

A new electron microscopy technique allows to collect images of the inner workings of batteries

14-Nov-2022 - To design better rechargeable ion batteries, engineers and chemists from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign collaborated to combine a powerful new electron microscopy technique and data mining to visually pinpoint areas of chemical and physical alteration within ion batteries. A study ...

A new spin to engineer better absorptive materials

15-Nov-2017 - A team of University of Illinois bioengineers has taken a new look at an old tool to help characterize a class of materials called metal organic frameworks - MOFs for short. MOFs are used to detect, purify and store gases, and could help solve some of the world's most challenging energy, ...

Magnetic actuation enables nanoscale thermal analysis

Heated nanoprobes perform thermo-mechanical measurements using magnetic actuation

16-Jan-2012 - Polymer nano-films and nano-composites are used in a wide variety of applications from food packaging to sports equipment to automotive and aerospace applications. Thermal analysis is routinely used to analyze materials for these applications, but the growing trend to use nanostructured materials ...

A new way forward for nanocomposite nanostructures

03-Mar-2010 - Scientists at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) and the University of Illinois — Urbana Champaign recently reported a new technique for directly writing composites of nanoparticles and polymers. Recent years have seen significant advances in the properties achieved by both these materials, and ...

Rethinking Brownian motion with the 'Emperor's New Clothes'

29-Jul-2009 - In the classic fairy tale, "The Emperor's New Clothes," Hans Christian Andersen uses the eyes of a child to challenge conventional wisdom and help others to see more clearly. In similar fashion, researchers at the University of Illinois have now revealed the naked truth about a classic ...

New molecular force probe stretches molecules, atom by atom

31-Mar-2009 - Chemists at the University of Illinois have created a simple and inexpensive molecular technique that replaces an expensive atomic force microscope for studying what happens to small molecules when they are stretched or compressed. The researchers use stiff stilbene, a small, inert structure, ...

New imaging technique reveals the atomic structure of nanocrystals

20-Feb-2009 - A new imaging technique developed by researchers at the University of Illinois overcomes the limit of diffraction and can reveal the atomic structure of a single nanocrystal with a resolution of less than one angstrom. Optical and electronic properties of small assemblages of atoms called ...

Femtogram-level chemical measurements now possible, U. of I. team reports

31-Mar-2008 - Finding a simple and convenient technique that combines nanoscale structural measurements and chemical identification has been an elusive goal. With current analytical instruments, spatial resolution is too low, signal-to-noise ratio too poor, sample preparation too complex or sample size too ...

UIC and Japanese chemists close in on molecular switch

13-Jul-2007 - The electronics industry believes that when it comes to circuits, smaller is better -- and many foresee a future where electrical switches and circuits will be as tiny as single molecules. Turning this dream into reality may be a step closer, thanks to a collaboration between chemists at the ...