Agreement between OSU, OU brings unique microscopic capabilities to Oklahoma

Agreement between OSU, OU brings unique microscopic capabilities to Oklahoma

Wednesday, October 30, 2024

Media Contact: Kristi Wheeler | Marketing and Communications Manager | 405-744-5831 | [email protected]

Oklahoma researchers are about to get a closer look at their work thanks to new technology.

A partnership between Oklahoma State University and the University of Oklahoma has resulted in the first aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscope (AC-STEM) to be available to researchers in the state.

Through a $2.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation for a Major Research Instrumentation project, the AC-STEM microscope will be available for researchers at OSU and OU.

Dr. Ritesh Sachan, an assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering in the OSU College of Engineering, Architecture and Technology, is a co-principal investigator on the project and an expert on aberration-corrected microscopy.

Sachan's expertise was a significant factor in the submission to NSF being accepted, as Sachan and the other PIs aimed to increase the microscopic capabilities in Oklahoma.

"One of my areas of expertise is in aberration-corrected microscopy and understanding the material properties at the atomic level," Sachan said. "This expertise was actually unique and led to this unique arrangement happening between OSU and OU as they needed somebody who could provide such knowledge."

Dr. Ritesh Sachan

Sachan received an NSF Faculty Early Career Development Program Award in 2023 to research high-entropy alloy nanoparticles. Through the CAREER project, he is fabricating high-entropy materials. He said the microscope will help obtain atomic-resolution data of those materials, which is critical to understanding the properties of the materials being studied.

The NSF CAREER award means Sachan will receive more than $500,000 over the next five years for his research proposal "Leading to Accelerated Discoveries in High-Throughput Ultrafast Laser-Driven Processing of High Entropy Alloy Nanoparticles."

Through this research, he studies the arrangement of the atoms and compositions of materials, such as multi-elemental alloys. This type of research could result in developing new materials to be used in industry that are equally effective but consist of cheaper and more plentiful elements.

This is not Sachan's first involvement in an award for an MRI project from the NSF, as he was also a co-PI with other OSU engineering professors for a $580,000 grant to acquire a physical property measurement system.

The system characterizes new materials being investigated for possible applications in food science, biomaterials and electronics. Various experimental techniques and the automation of the PPMS help researchers interpret the data needed to understand new classes of materials.

The aberration-corrected aspect of this microscope means that aberrations - anomalies that cause an image to become blurred or distorted - are corrected, resulting in a clear picture.

The microscope uses electrons, which appear on all materials, and those electrons can be photographed. Sachan said if the electron beam is aberrated, the image of the material will be obscured.

The microscope, an atomic resolution microscope produced by JEOL USA, can view a material at the atomic level, where a researcher can see all atoms that make up a material and find its defects.

Sachan said microscopy is critical for understanding the properties of materials, and there is a connection between processing and manufacturing and understanding the property of what's being manufactured.

"If you are manufacturing something, if you don't know why you're getting certain types of properties, how can you improve them? It's very critical how microscopy works and how to use that in manufacturing," Sachan said.

Shown is the type of aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscope purchased through a $2.5 million grant from the National Science Foundation.

Dr. Sandip Harimkar, department head of the School of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and Albert H. Nelson Jr. Chair, said the aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy facility is a "game-changing imaging capability for our state."

"This microscope provides unprecedented resolution to image and identify atoms, enabling new understandings of materials and discoveries across the disciplines," Harimkar said. "I am particularly excited about Dr. Sachan's participation as one of the co-principal investigators on this project. I anticipate broader usage of this facility by our faculty, creating opportunities for exploring new directions and collaborations."

Dr. Chuck Bunting, associate dean of research and Bellmon Chair, said this microscope will be invaluable to researchers in the pursuit of new discoveries.

"The aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscope allows for atomic-level investigation of materials, proving invaluable to OSU engineering faculty and students across various fields of expertise," Bunting said. "This advanced tool will facilitate the development of new microelectronics, catalysts and alloys, and support machine learning for materials discoveries. Unique in Oklahoma, this microscope can visualize individual atoms, identify elements and perform cutting-edge data-driven analysis."

Despite being in Norman, Oklahoma, the microscope will be available for OSU researchers. Sachan studied at Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee after receiving his doctorate and would travel to Tennessee to research with an AC-STEM microscope.

Having this type of microscope in Norman will mean a shorter trip to use it and more opportunities to do so. Sachan said the initial plan will be to train graduate students on how to use the microscope and allow them to perform research.

"Then the idea is to arrange some tours for undergraduate students to see the facility," Sachan said. "And if they are interested, we will provide them with training there. One of the things that we were promoting was the student training, whether they are from OU or OSU."

Although the microscope is more geared toward research, Sachan said it can still spark an interest in K-12 students to pursue state-of-the-art research, especially when somebody sees an image of something taken at the atomic resolution level.

"When I show people the images of atoms, it becomes a very curious case, and seeing them is an amazing experience," Sachan said. "It can make students want to pursue science."

Photos by: Gary Lawson, JEOL LTD, Ritesh Sachan

Story by: Tanner Holubar | IMPACT Magazine

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