Platinum-Lace Nanoballs

A scanning microscope image of platinum-lace nanoballs. Liposomes aggregate, providing a foamlike template for a platinum sheet to grow. (11 July 2006)

The Department of Energy's Sandia National Laboratories and the University of New Mexico Center for Microengineered Materials have developed a new way of mimicking photosynthetic proteins to manipulate platinum at the nanoscale. The method has the potential to change the metal's properties and benefit emerging technologies.

Image courtesy DOE and Sandia National Laboratories, Albuquerque, NM. Find more images at the DOE Digital Photo Archive.