Materials Characterization Core

Our mission is to promote discovery and innovation by providing Drexel University and external users access to advanced materials characterization instrumentation, training and expertise.

The Materials Characterization Core (MCC) at Drexel University is a multi-user facility that provides technical expertise and instrumentation for research in variety of areas including nanoscience and engineering, polymer research, biomedical engineering, and chemistry and physics of solid materials. The MCC occupies a 3,500 square foot laboratory in the Bossone Research Enterprise Building on Drexel's main campus that houses several electron microscopes, a 3D X-ray microscope, X-ray diffractometers, an X-ray photoelectron spectrometer and a suite of sample preparation tools.

The instruments are supported by three full-time Ph.D.-level staff members who provide expert consultation, training and assistance to MCC users. In addition to serving the research missions of our users, the MCC is used for teaching both undergraduate and graduate level courses in Materials Science and Engineering, Mechanical Engineering and Mechanics, Biomedical Engineering, and Biology. MCC instrumentation and staff assistance is available to all Drexel University students, faculty and staff as well as external academic and commercial interests. Trained and certified users are welcome to work independently on our instruments 24 hours per day, 7 days per week.

Discostella lacuskarluki - a tiny diatom from plankton of Karluk Lake, Kodiak Island, Alaska. Scanning electron microscopy by Prof. Marina Potapova, Drexel BEES

Yury Gogotsi, Sang Ouk Kim, Chong Min Koo, and co‐workers report systematic experimental and theoretical exploration of the electromagnetic interference (EMI) shielding behavior of two‐dimensional Ti3C2Tx MXene.

Five-fold symmetry in a nanocrystalline silicon thin film revealed by transmission electron microscopy in the MCC. Image courtesy of Craig Johnson.

Cavinula vincentii - a diatom commonly found in sediments of cold-water lakes. Scanning electron microscopy by Prof. Marina Potapova, Drexel BEES

Tetracyclus glans - a diatom "living fossil": a species from the previously diverse but now almost extinct genus Tetracyclus that still can be found in clean and cool rivers and lakes in the Northern Hemisphere. Scanning electron microscopy by Prof. Marina Potapova, Drexel BEES

Brachysira subtile - a diatom species recently described as new for science from a remote alpine lake in Eastern Siberia. Scanning electron microscopy by Prof. Marina Potapova, Drexel BEES

Atomic structure changes in bismuth oxide probed by in situ heating and X-ray diffraction. Image courtesy of Prof. Jonathan Spanier, Drexel MSE/MEM.

By adding more polymer "bristles" to bottle brush polymers (top), researchers in the Li group at Drexel have discovered a way to initiate and pause the self-assembly of crystals from solution. The crystals could one day be used to encapsulate medicine for targeted drug therapies. Image courtesy of Prof. Christopher Li, Drexel MSE.

Collagen fibrils from cow knee meniscus in the scanning electron microscope.

Scanning electron microscopy of water droplets on superhydrophobic surfaces prepared by the McCarthy and Lau groups at Drexe

Materials Characterization Core

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