The Art in Science of MicroTAS: the 2013 edition

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Abstract

The 6th annual μTAS Art in Science Award was presented to Ye Wang of Eindhoven University of Technology at the 17th International Conference of Miniaturized Systems for Chemistry and Life Sciences held in Freiburg, Germany, on October 27–31, 2013. The winning image captivated the hearts and minds of the judges and is featured on the front cover of this issue. “Artificial Life”, as the author of the work that produced this image named it, was taken with a scanning electron microscope (SEM) and shows cilia-like structures (or “microhairs”) generated from PDMS (polydimethylsiloxane) and magnetic nanoparticles (Y. Wang, Y. Gao, H. M. Wyss, P. D. Anderson and J. M. J. den Toonder, “Out of Cleanroom, Self-assembled Magnetic Artificial Cilia”, micro-TAS, 2013, 787–789). To produce the structure the author used a glass mold produced by femtolaser modification and hydrofluoric acid etching. As the title implies, the features produced by this procedure resemble cilia-like structures as seen in a number of eukaryotic cells.

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The μTAS Art in Science Award was established in 2008 to commemorate the inspiration of scientific discovery and technological advancement that can be conveyed through illustrations of scientific merit. We are all born into this world free of worry and without any concern regarding how others might judge our ability for artistic expression. Observing how children play, it seems that given the necessary materials we all have an innate drive to re-create what our senses perceive and to create “pieces of art.” However, although we are capable of creating art at a young age, for many of us this inspirational, artistic and creative chapter of our lives ends as we move onto more “mature” endeavors. The MicroTAS Art in Science award reminds us that admiring the beauty in our work not only inspires us, but is also a key ingredient for drawing interest in our research.

This year's selection committee for the Art in Science award was comprised of Prof. Albert Folch (University of Washington), Harp Minhas (LOC/RSC) and Darwin Reyes (NIST). The judges considered each submission for its originality, visual appeal, scientific merit, and appropriateness for a Lab on a Chip front cover. The task was not easy due to the large number of excellent submissions. The judges’ first duty was to agree on the top five submissions. From those, a long deliberation ensued until the winner was selected (Fig. 1 and 2). The top 4 runners-up for this Art in Science award were:

Fig. 1 Ye Wang of Eindhoven University of Technology (center right) receives the 6th Annual MicroTAS Art in Science Award, presented by Darwin Reyes of NIST (left), Harpal Minhas of LOC/RSC (center left) and Albert Folch of University of Washington (right).

Fig. 2 The 2013 MicroTAS winner of the Art in Science Award: Artificial Life, submitted by Ye Wang of the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Eindhoven University of Technology (The Netherlands).

“Nanoforest” by Sakon Rahong of Osaka University (Fig. 3).

Fig. 3 Award 1st runner up: Nanoforest, submitted by Sakon Rahong of Osaka University (Japan). This image is a colorized SEM micrograph depicting structures that resemble Christmas-trees made out of nanowires. These nanowires were prepared by vapor liquid solid (VLS) growth embedded in a microchannel.

“Trapping Trapping” by Satoru Ito of Nagoya University (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4 Award 2nd runner up: Trapping Trapping, submitted by Satoru Ito of Nagoya University (Japan). This image show ZnO nanowires, with diameters of 100 nm and 2 to 3 μm long, electrostatically trapping beads of 100 nm diameter.

“Micrometer-scale branch-like patterns through nanopillar guided crystallization”, aka “Van Gogh's Wall Paper” by You-Ren Hsu of the Institute of NanoEngineering and MicroSystems, NTHU (Fig. 5).

Fig. 5 Award 3rd runner up: Micrometer-scale branch-like patterns through nanopillar guided crystallization, or as the judges named it “Van Gogh's Wall Paper”. This image was submitted by You-Ren Hsu from the Institute of NanoEngineering and MicroSystems, NTHU (Taiwan). The image shows salt crystallization on a gold coating photonic crystal substrate. The salt crystallization changed the index of refraction of the surface making the color tone look like Van Gogh style.

“Droplets firework” by Jan Eikjel of the MESA+ Institution for Nanotechnology (Fig. 6).

Fig. 6 Award 4th runner up: Droplets firework, submitted by Jan Eikjel of the MESA+ institution for Nanotechnology (The Netherlands). In this image a liquid jet shoots out from a pore, breaking into droplets, containing net charges from the electrical double layer. The image shows that the droplets shot out from the bottom as a quite narrow droplet train and widened at a larger distance from the pore. The widening of the droplet train is attributed to the consumption of the kinetic energy of the droplets by air friction followed by droplet diffusion, like a “firework”.

Acknowledgements

The Art in Science award is sponsored and supported by MicroTAS, the Chemical and Biological Microsystems Society (CBMS), the Lab on a Chip journal, and NIST. The award consists of a monetary prize ($2000), an award certificate, and the coveted front cover of the Lab on a Chip journal. Please check the MicroTAS 2014 conference website for further details on the submission of images at the next MicroTAS Conference in San Antonio, Texas, USA.

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