Metal Oxide Nanoparticles Shine Bright like a Starry Sky when Viewed with Enhanced Darkfield Microscopy

Caption:
Although this image looks very much like a starry night sky, it is actually a darkfield image of metal oxide nanoparticles suspended in water and taken at a magnification of 40X.  It illustrates how nanotechnologists can use established techniques from other fields rather than reinventing the wheel

J. Dillon^a and A. Nallainathan^b
Advisor: Sara Brenner MD, MPH.
^aSUNY Polytechnic Institute Colleges of Nanoscale Science & Engineering
Nanobioscience Constellation
Albany, NY
^bStony Brook University
Department of Biomedical Engineering
Stony Brook, NY
.  
Laboratory website: https://sunypoly.edu/research/team-brenner/

Technique: This aqueous nanoparticle suspension was imaged with an enhanced darkfield microscope system at 40x magnification.

Description:
Our research involves studying the health and safety effects of worker exposure to metal oxide nanoparticle slurries.  These slurries are used to polish wafers during the fabrication process of computer chips that are used in everyday items, such as computers, phones and tablets. The overarching goal of this research is to determine whether enhanced darkfield microscopy coupled with hyperspectral imaging (HSI) analysis is capable of differentiating between various metal oxide nanoparticles in slurries. In the future, our group hopes to use HSI to quickly and efficiently distinguish between nanoparticles found in wastewater from this polishing process in situ, which will enable scientists to study the environmental effects of these nanoparticles much easier than current, conventional methods allow.

Funding Source: NanoHealth & Safety Center, New York State (awarded to P.I.)