Wiesner Group
The goal of the Wiesner Group is to use diblock polymers and ceramic components
and develop different ways to create structures at a nanometer scale with different
symmetries.
The applications are potentially useful for microelectronics and nanobiotechnology.
A diblock polymer is two polymers joined end to end.
The research I was involved in with Phong Bort Du (graduate student) consisted
of trying to create a thin film (at nanometer proportions) of hexagonal positioned
cylinders on a silicon wafer. Nature has been successful in creating silica templates
of beautiful symmetries in the skeletons of diatoms and radiolaria (microscopic sea
organism).
Left: Living diatom. Click image for source.
Right: centric diatom -silica skeleton- taken with a Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM)-
Click image for source.
Click on these links to learn more about
diatoms and symmetry: