Joy Chao Receives 2020 MRS Silver Graduate Student Award

nanotechnology

Hsin-Yun "Joy" Chao, a third year Ph.D. student in the University of Maryland (UMD) Department of Materials Science and Engineering (MSE), received a Silver Graduate Student Award offered by the Materials Research Society (MRS) for her study, entitled, "Ordering at the BNNT/Water Interface using Cryo-EM techniques."

"Nanotubes used to transport fluid have been of increasing interest lately," said Chao. "Carbon nanotubes (CNT) have uniformly higher permeability compared to other nanochannels, even though CNTs can achieve smaller diameters. Our group strives to better understand the structural ordering at the atomic scale of nanotube-water interfaces using empirical methods."

Chao is using cryogenic electron microscopy (Cryo-EM) techniques to hyperquench ultrapure water with multi-walled boron nitride nanotubes (BNNT) into a vitrified state to better observe the BNNT/water interface using a transmission electron microscope (TEM). Phase transformations will be observed using Raman spectroscopy performed in-situ during TEM imaging.

Chao, advised by MSE Professor, John Cumings, has also submitted an entry (submission #13) for the Science As Art Competition . Online voting is open until Friday, August 7th, for MRS members.

Published August 3, 2020