By Chiara Busa.
“One of the aims of this project is to pattern surfaces and thin films, trying to obtain specific structures with a homogenous distribution. The picture actually shows the fully development of the growing of nanopillars, from the initial formation to the full growing.”
"This kind of structure is obtained by a specific lithography that allows to create a pattern of pillars in the nano/micron scale, starting from a very thin film (100-200 nanometers thick).
The colour of this thin film is a deep blue, which can be observed on the right side of the picture; as the pillars start to grow, they withdraw materials from the surrounding areas and the colours of the film change, due to the different thickness along the surface."
Chiara Busa is a postgraduate researcher in the School of Chemical Engineering.