High-end research infrastructure for electron microscopy based characterization and analysis at Technical University of Denmark
Following a generous donation from the A. P. Møller and Chastine Mc-Kinney Møller Foundation, the Center for Electron Nanoscopy at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU Cen) was inaugurated in 2007. The center has now changed name to the National Center for Nanofabrication and Characterization (DTU Nanolab), but the center continues with high end nanocharacterization. The center was established as a state-of-the-art electron microscopy (EM) facility with a suite of microscopes housed in a high specification building that only a handful of other labs worldwide could rival. The broad aim of the center is to ensure a balance between advanced research, teaching and training, and fostering collaborations with national and international partners. Now, a decade after the official inauguration of DTU Cen, the microscopy center employs 17 researchers (including PhD students and post docs.) as well as 7 technical and administrative staff. Over the years, the activities of the center have been expanding as DTU Nanolab attracts funding from both Danish and European funding agencies.
Access for academic and industrial scientists to DTU Nanolab’s electron microscopes supports existing research and results in the creation of new research fields and in the sharing of knowledge for the development of materials, processes, technologies, techniques and instrumentation. The list below gives an idea of the broad research areas that the center is currently pursuing:
- In situ characterization of individual nanoparticles under controlled atmosphere;
- Nanostructures for Plasmonic sensing;
- Magnetic materials;
- Pore structures in minerals and soil;
- (pseudo) 1-dimensional semiconductor heterostructures for solar cells and quantum computing;
- Growth and characterization of 1D and 2D materials;
- Grain boundary mapping and phase transitions of alloy materials;
