McMaster University in Hamilton is the first postsecondary institution in the world to get a powerful new electron microscope that will allow Canadian researchers to see atoms in far sharper detail than ever before.
"It is safe to say this is the best microscope at any university in the world," said Gianluigi Botton, director of the Canadian Centre for Electron Microscopy at McMaster. The new machine offers scientists a vastly improved view of the structure of matter, comparable to looking at groups of atoms through a finely polished lens instead of through a beer bottle, Dr. Botton said.
"The difference is quite dramatic."
The $15-million microscope also offers researchers new ways to explore the mysterious inner world of familiar materials like gold or aluminum.
Small groups of atoms often have different properties than when they are in bulk. For example, a small particle made up of a few atoms of gold would look like red-stained glass, Dr. Botton said. But gold metal is opaque and has a very different colour.
As well, gold atoms have different biological properties than gold bars; they are anti-microbial and more reactive, said John Preston, director of the Brockhouse Institute for Materials Research at McMaster. The new microscope will help researchers figure out why.
The Titan 80-300 Cubed microscope was built in the Netherlands and arrived at the university in June, where it joins a stable of seven other high-powered electron microscopes, each one designed to probe material in slightly different ways.
McMaster's vice-president of research, Mo Elbestawi, said the latest acquisition gives Canada, and Ontario, an edge in nanotechnology, a hot field that one day could lead to faster computers, smarter robots and tiny probes that navigate their way through our bodies.
It will be used to study how hundreds of everyday products - from beer cans to automotive materials to sunscreen - work at the nano level.
A nanometre is one-millionth of a millimetre, or about 50,000 times smaller than the diameter of a human hair.
There are already more than 6,000 nanotechnology-based consumer products on the market, including sunscreens and stain-resistant fabrics.
But little is known about how nanoparticles affect living organisms. The new microscope can help scientists understand why materials have different properties in bulk and at the nano scale, which is key to predicting what various nanoparticles might do in the human body.
"There is concern these materials might be dangerous to health and we can provide answers for why this may be the case," Dr. Botton said.
Researchers from across the country will have access to the microscope, and already have plans to use it on a variety of projects, including the development of more efficient batteries and fuel cells. Others will study viruses and proteins, or look at how particles in air pollution damage our lungs. Others are hoping to create lighter and stronger automotive materials or higher-density memory storage for faster electronic devices.
It is not the most powerful microscope in the world, Dr. Botton said. The Department of Energy in the United States has a slightly improved version. But it is the most powerful one that is commercially available, he said, and he and his colleagues are already planning an upgrade.
The new acquisition is housed in a special facility designed to withstand even ultra-low vibrations and minute temperature shifts.
Funding for it came from the Canada Foundation for Innovation, the Ontario Innovation Trust, the Ministry of Research and Innovation of Ontario, and a number of other sources.