Multimedia Gallery
Nanostructured Platinum
Nanostructured Platinum
This illustration shows nanostructured platinum with pores arranged in an ordered, honeycomb-like pattern. The metal pattern is about one million times smaller than the typical honeycomb pattern found in a beehive, and the pores are just large enough to allow the efficient transport of small molecules through the pores. The nanostructured platinum results from a synthesis method developed by Cornell University researchers in which appropriately designed platinum nanoparticles automatically assemble into complex, ordered patterns. These porous metal structures have the capability to transform the development of more efficient and cheaper catalysts for fuels cells and industrial processes and materials for microchip fabrication.
The research was headed by Uli Wiesner, Cornell professor of materials science and engineering, who received a grant from the National Science Foundation's (NSF) Division of Materials Research. For more information about this research, see the NSF news release, "New method 'self-assembles' metal atoms into porous nanostructures." [Research supported by NSF grants DMR 06-05856 (single investigator award), DMR 05-20404 (Materials Research Science and Engineering Center) and DMR 02-25180 (Cornell High Energy Synchrotron Source)]. (Date of Image: June 2008)
Credit: Image courtesy Scott Warren and Uli Wiesner, Cornell University
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