Tag

SEM

Surprising Images of Antimony Catalysts Helps With Recycling Polystyrene

At SSW, we sometimes make important discoveries from unexpected things. Many students come to us with reference images from publications, but when we examine their samples, we see something that is completely different. That’s what happened to UofT engineer Goutham Rangarajan. Goutham’s images show the unexpected shapes and forms of...
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Publication Highlight: Study on the Self-Repairing Effect of Nanoclay in Powder Coatings for Corrosion Protection

Over the past several years, Dr. Marshall Yang has dedicated countless hours to training on and utilizing the advanced instrumentation and expertise available at Surface Science Western (SSW). During his tenure at SSW, Marshall used our field emission and tungsten filament scanning electron microscopy (FESEM / SEM), confocal laser scanning...
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SEM-Based UVD-CL Microscopy at SSW

Cathode-Ray Tube TVs and computer monitors utilize a special electromagnetic phenomenon known as cathodoluminescence (CL) to produce visible light on a fluorescent screen. This technology’s use in modern computers and TVs has been gradually phased out in favour of LED technology, but interestingly this phenomenon has been utilized as a...
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Enjoying that Fufu? Investigating Corrosion in Cookware

Various foods can act as an accelerator of corrosion in everyday cookware, leading to degradation of the cookware and the release of metal ions into the food. Toxicological studies have revealed that increased doses of metals, such as nickel and chromium, can cause adverse reactions in those whom consume the...
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Susanna’s Secret – A 12th Century German Palimpsest?

A 12th century 'Susannah and the Elders' medieval manuscript, the oldest item that Western has in their rare book collection, dating from around 1125 in Germany, may have been a rare case of a "palimpsest". SSW researchers wanted to look at this faint 90-degree text in higher detail.
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Engineers and Scientists unite! Two Ph.D. engineering students share their collaborative experiences at SSW

Marshall Yang and fellow student Jackson (Jinbao) Huang, two Ph.D. graduates from the Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering (CBE) at Western University, would like to share their collaborative experiences at Surface Science Western (SSW). Marshall and Jackson were the lead researchers on a multi-year project studying the behaviours and...
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Publication Highlight: Unravelling the Mysteries of Laundry Microplastic Pollution

To help unravel the mysteries of microplastic pollution in aquatic systems, SSW researchers are working with Juan Li and UWO’s Environmental Engineering department.
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Shakespeare Exposed! SEM Imaging of Old Books

SSW Researchers wanted to test some novel samples inside the Large Chamber VP-SEM, so they imaged whole book! A 1909 copy of Shakespeare’s Measure for Measure. SSW researchers hypothesized that they could use electrons to actually read the book within the SEM.
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SSW working with Anthropology on 500 year old Mummies!

SSW researchers are working with members of the Anthropology department (Andrew Nelson and Emy Roberge) to look at the internal structures of 500 year old sacrificial virgin mummy teeth. We examined thin-sections of two teeth from a cemetery associated with a female institution in Farfán on the North Coast of...
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