Photomicrography and the Art of Science

The use of microscopy in the world of scientific research has led to many advances in medicine, manufacturing, and technology. And recently, microscopy is revealing the art of science.

Photomicrography, the practice of taking photographs of objects under a microscope, is seeing unprecedented popularity as crucial scientific research conducted in laboratories around the world yields fascinating images. Competitions are on the upswing, and art galleries have noticed that art lovers share in the beauty and complexity of images from photographing microscopic objects.

This year’s cover image is a photomicrograph taken by graduate student, Xueni “Shirley” Huang. Shirley is a student in the Department of Chemistry under the advisement of Dr. Steven L. Suib, Director of IMS. She has won multiple recognitions for her photomicrography including third place in both the “Artistic Micrography – Color” and “Artistic Micrography – Black & White” categories at the International Metallographic Society’s 2022 International Metallographic Contest. She received an honorable mention in the color category and two honorable mentions in the black & white category in 2021. She has been an avid photographer from a young age.

“I took my first photo of a bee landing on a canola flower at the age of five, and I was really amazed to see how the pollens were stuck onto the tiny scopal hairs,” Shirley recalls. While that experience certainly shaped her love of photography, it was the first scanning electron microscopic (SEM) image she got from scanning iron oxide nanorods as a junior undergrad that started her interest in photomicrography.

“It was not a perfect picture to be honest, blurry with a big scale bar in micrometers, but to me it opened the gate to a fascinating nanosized world where mountains, forests and deserts also exist.”

Shirley’s research as a graduate student is in the area of light-driven catalytic reactions, or photocatalysis. She describes the process as ‘the synthesis of metal oxide semiconductor nanomaterials for photocatalytic reactions like dye degradation and water splitting.’

While she does recognize the artistic quality of photomicrographic images, as a scientist Shirley views micrographic photography first as a means for researchers to ‘see what is going on with your own eyes.’ She notes that the results of photomicrographic images provide guid- ance to failure analysis and further experiment design, especially for researchers dealing with materials.

“It is inspiring to me that my images are not just part of the research outcomes to be analyzed and cropped by different software, but also have some artistic value. I really appreciate my advisor, Dr. Suib, for allowing me access to all these gigantic and high-tech “cameras” countless numbers of times. Also, great appreciation to Dr. Lichun Zhang and Dr. Haiyan Tan for the training and discussion on the microscopes.”

As for her future after graduation, Shirley hopes to devote herself to either applying the technique for scientific analysis or improving the performance of the instruments used in the research.