Until Friday, November 3, the exhibition “Images of the Nanoworld” will be on display at the La Tirana Campus of Universidad de Tarapacá (Iquique), a traveling exhibition that hopes to tour much of the country, bringing nanoscience and nanotechnology to children, young people and adults.
The exhibition brings together images of nanoparticles captured through electron microscopy by researchers at the Center for the Development of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (CEDENNA), who worked on them artistically, creating colorful works that took part in the internal contest the center organizes every year to bring to life the annual calendar distributed to schools in different regions.
The opening was attended by the Campus General Director, Dr. Yasna Godoy Henríquez, who praised this type of initiative that encourages knowledge of and engagement with science in a playful and artistic way.
Dr. Olga Penagos shared some details about the exhibition, highlighting that each image is accompanied by a scientific description showing what is really behind each photograph and demonstrating the wonders we can find in this invisible world, which electron microscopy reveals to us.
For example, a springtime butterfly flying among pollen grains turns out to be a porous hydrogel containing cellulose nanofibrils used to remediate colored water. A beautiful pink jellyfish among apparent underwater rocks is not what it seems. It is titanium dioxide (TiO2), which in its most common phase is known as rutile, with interesting optical properties described centuries ago.
Another photograph shows an aggregate of vanadium oxide tubes in different oxidation states (V(5+) and V(4+)). The resemblance to coral is striking.
The exhibition can be visited free of charge from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. in the hall of the La Tirana campus auditorium.
