University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign

The Crystal Maze

Ren, Yi

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Ren_Yi.pdf

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https://hdl.handle.net/2142/95877

Description

Title
The Crystal Maze
Author(s)
Ren, Yi
Issue Date
2017
Keyword(s)
Chemistry
Date of Ingest
2017-04-14T16:24:17Z
Abstract
Have you ever wondered why snowflakes are hexagonal-shaped? About 400 years ago, Johannes Kepler found that the beautiful structures of snowflakes are due to the regular geometry packing of tiny solid subunit, which allows the water molecules to form together in the most efficient way. My graduate work has focused on structure-property relationships in solid materials. This image depicts the crystalline tetrathiafulvalene under an optical microscope with polarized light. Due to molecular interactions, the maze-like pattern was created via rapid evaporation of an organic solvent. The color of this image is “painted” by the interactions between birefringent anisotropic crystals and polarized light.
Type of Resource
  • text
  • image
Permalink
http://hdl.handle.net/2142/95877
Copyright and License Information
Copyright 2017 Yi Ren

Owning Collections

Image of Research - Graduate Students PRIMARY