That could help researchers gain better understanding of how those materials could be used in making new products for aerospace, medical products and other markets.
The Air Force Research Laboratory, which works with the University of Dayton Research Institute, would be interested if UD obtained it, said Joe Sciabica, the AFRL’s executive director.
“The potential for future collaboration with such an instrument certainly exists,” Sciabica said.
UD officials are considering applying in 2011 for federal funding to buy the microscope.
It would improve capacity to work with research partners as well as create educational opportunities for students, a key if the university is to persuade the National Science Foundation to provide federal funding, said Mary Connolly, the university’s coordinator of bio-research initiatives.
UD’s similar application to the National Science Foundation in 2009 was passed over.
At their tiny scale, nanomaterials exhibit unique properties that make them useful in the manufacture of new products.
The microscope could be used to do etching on nanostructures, which could further alter their properties as part of new manufacturing processes, said Gilbert Pacey, a senior research scientist at UDRI and the UD-led Institute for Development and Commercialization of Advanced Sensor Technology (IDCAST).
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