How do you study the world’s smallest materials?

In a paper published in the journal Nature Materials, University of Cincinnati Assistant Professor Hanxun Jin highlighted advances in ultrasensitive technology to measure and manipulate some of the tiniest nanomaterials used in manufacturing, aerospace, medicine and more.

And when Jin says tiny, he means really tiny. Semiconductor nanocrystals called quantum dots that are used in TV screens are so small they’re considered zero dimensional.

That makes the field of nanomaterials characterization a particularly exciting one, Jin said.

Many of these nanomaterials are critical components of electronics and energy storage. But they have many other applications, including water filters that can capture the smallest heavy metals, Jin said.

The challenge is developing instruments capable of studying and testing these materials in meaningful ways, he said.

While nanomaterials can have tensile strength greater than steel, they paradoxically can be brittle and break easily, he said. Testing is important to develop more resilient structures.

“Nanomaterials are like human beings. They all have defects. That makes them more interesting,” he said.

Jin outlined recent advances in instrumentation in electron microscopy, X-ray imaging and acoustics.

For example, hybrid photon counting detectors can create crystal clear X-ray images without background noise. Third-generation synchrotrons found in about 60  labs around the world produce extremely bright X-ray light to create a supermicroscope for studying the smallest materials.

Simultaneously, he said, artificial intelligence is helping researchers collect more data and make meaningful use of it faster than ever.

And testing is becoming more automated using advanced robotics and computer modeling that can speed testing and experiments. And all of this research attention is creating exciting engineering possibilities, he said.

“If we designed new nanoarchitecture, one day we could build the first space elevator,” Jin said.

In Jin’s NanoBioMech Lab in UC’s College of Engineering and Applied Science, Jin develops tools to design biological materials at nanoscale for personalized healthcare and engineering applications. This includes bioprinting tissue and, perhaps one day, organs for transplants.

“We will need to have more complex and practical technologies. Printing body parts, printing skin tissue — it’s really exciting to be a part of this research,” doctoral student Elif Dursun said.

They use scanning electron microscopy to study nanomaterials such as collagen in our skin. Specialized software generates 3D-model simulations that allow researchers to see how a tangle of collagen nanofibers that resemble steel wool stretch or shear when pulled apart.

“We want to study the mechanical material behavior of nanofibers. The goal is to design material architecture that doesn’t break — or breaks when we want it to,” Jin said.

By using the latest tools, researchers hope to create resilient manufactured facsimiles that hold up as well as the original.

“We have different types of skin. Each fiber can have its own architecture with its own material properties,” he said. “We can improve the toughness of the structure.”

Featured image at top: UC Assistant Professor Hanxun Jin teaches materials engineering in UC's College of Engineering and Applied Science. Photo/Jenna Adkins-Manuel/UC Marketing + Brand