Studying very small biological nanomaterials and their properties may become easier as the result of development of an electrically charged imaging technique at the Department of Energy's Oak Ridge National Laboratory.
Oak Ridge researcher Sergei Kalinin says aiming an electric pulse at a biological nanomaterial will give scientists a clearer understanding of their nano specimen.
"We detect surface motion induced by this electrical pulse," says Kalinin. "This provides us with a high resolution image of the biological system."
Kalinin says the imaging technique may open new avenues to the emerging science of nanotechnology.
"We believe that in the future this approach can be used not only for imaging, but also for control of biological systems," Kalinin says.
A story on Kalinin's work appears in a recent edition of Small Times magazine.
ORNL is managed by UT-Battelle for the Department of Energy.