Layered Solids Group (LSG)

Congratulations to PhD student Nina Lane! She received the Leroy Resser Endowed Fellowship.

The fellowship is a highly competitive award offered by Drexel University for graduate students with academic excellence.

Congratulations to PhD student Michael Naguib! He received the competitive George Hill, Jr. Endowed Fellowship.

The fellowship is a highly competitive award offered by Drexel University for qualified candidates for the PhD program in an interdisciplinary program or research area in the College of Engineering.

PhD student Babak Anasori’s SEM image has made it to the front cover of Nano Today (Volume 7, Issue 1). The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image shows 2D crystals of Ti₃C₂, a member of  MXene family. The sample was made by PhD student Michael Naguib.

Babak submitted the SEM image to the Nano Today cover competition and, as a winner, the image is featured on the February issue of Nano Today.

Image Credit: Babak Anasori, Michael Naguib, Yury Gogotsi and Michel W. Barsoum.

Congratulations to Michael Naguib! He successfully proposed his PhD thesis Thursday, March 8th, 2012.

Michael’s PhD thesis is entitled “MXene: New Family of 2-D Materials, and its Potential Application in Lithium Ion Batteries.” See his proposal abstract here

MRS published Babak Anasori and Michael Naguib’s microscopy image in “Look Again” in the February issue of MRS Bulletin.

“Look Again” uses images from the popular “Science as Art” competition that is held at the MRS Spring and Fall meetings.  The feature shows the original image and beside it, the same image but with a few subtle alterations.  Readers are invited to spot the differences in the “before” and “after” pictures.

The image is entitled “A cliff of two-dimensional world” and also won the People’s choice award in the Science and NSF visualization challenge 2011.

MRS Bulletin-Look again

Read Tom Avril’s story about MXene and Babak’s NSF/Science photo contest award, published in the Philadelphia Inquirer Monday, February 13th 2012.

• Philadelphia Inquirer Article
• www.philly.com/nanosheets

Members of the MAX phase research group worked with other students, faculty, researchers, staff, and educators from Drexel, UPenn, and local institutes to run Philly Materials Day Saturday, February 4th, 2012. The day-long event featured demos, talks, and tons of hands-on activities to celebrate and educate on Materials Science.

The ceramics demo 2012 team was made up of Darin Tallman, Nina Lane, Sandra Lane, CJ Spencer, Abe Crook, Ben Yezuita, and Matthias Agne.

Photos from last year’s Philly Materials Day

B.S. student Abe Crook building a giant carbon nanotube out of balloons.

PhD student Nina Lane teaching young scientists about exploding glass.

Babak’s Cliff image won the “People’s Choice” contest in the International Science and Engineering Visualization Challenge of the Science magazine and the National Science Foundation!

News coverage:

• Best Science Pictures of 2011
• Science Magazine
• BBC News
• National Geographic
• Washington Post
• Russian news

Congratulations to Babak, Michael and the rest of the MXene team.

Images by PhD students Babak Anasori and Michael Naguib were featured at the “Small & Exquisite” Exhibit of award-winning scanning electron microscopy images displayed in the Mandell Theater Lobby January 9 through 20. The exhibit showcased the artistry captured under the lens of one of several high-powered microscopes in Drexel’s Centralized Research Facilities. A reception with all the researchers behind the images was held on Friday, January 13, 2012.

Photos from the reception

Professor Yury Gogotsi, Professor Michel Barsoum, PhD student Babak Anasori, and PhD student Nina Lane with Babak Anasori’s “MAX Dragon” image. The image shows the fractured surface of a nanocrystalline magnesium matrix composite freinforced with Ti₂AlC to form a “dragon.”

“Cliff” image by Babak Anasori and Michael Naguib showing 2-dimensional layers of Ti₃C₂ fabricated through the exfoliation of Ti₃AlC₂. Also shown above is an SEM image entitled “Spilt Milk” by former M.S. graduate Keith Fahnestock (adviser: Prof. Caroline Schauer).

PhD student Michael Naguib, CRF SEM manager Dr. Edward Basgall, and PhD student Babak Anasori with their “Cliff” SEM image.

Babak Anasori’s microscopy image is featured on the top of American Physical Society (APS) 2012 calendar, which is sent out to APS members.

Click image to see pdf.