First place winners Nano-Explosions Color-enhanced scanning electron micrograph of an overflowed electrodeposited magnetic nanowire array (CoFeB), where the template has been subsequently completely etched. It’s a reminder that nanoscale research can have unpredicted consequences at a high level. (Image: Fanny Beron, École Polytechnique de Montréal, Montréal, Canada)
Bamboos for Vibration Control Ni-Mn-Ga melt-extracted fibers with an approximate diameter of 100 µm showing a bamboo-type structure (imaged with a backscattered electron detector in an FEG-SEM). Melt-extraction is a unique and novel method to prepare single-crystalline particles for magnetic shape memory composites. (Image: Oliver Gutfleisch, IFW Dresden, Institute of Metallic Materials, Dresden, Germany)
Dirty Dice Self-assembled 200 micron size nickel dice, imaged using scanning electron microscopy in the lower secondary electron (LEI) mode. The dice were colorized using Adobe Photoshop. (Image: Timothy Leong, The Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, USA)
Second place winners Beauty of Nature SEM image of CuInSe2 film with Cu2Se (plates) and InSe (needles) crystals on the surface. (Image: Olga Volobujeva, Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia)
Layered steps in Lanthanum Cobaltite The picture shows a colored image of the layered steps formed inside closed pores of La0.8Ca0.2CoO3, which were revealed due to fracture of the material. (Image: Siddhartha Pathak, Drexel University, Philadelphia, USA)
Red Planet Combined 3-D representation of two images taken by scanning tunneling microscopy. The land is from an STM image of one monolayer of HATNA deposited on Au(111), and the sky is from an image of THAP/Au(111) exposed to a high background pressure of cobaltocene. (Image: Sieu Ha, Princeton University, Princeton, USA)