Chemistry in Pictures: Marine camouflage

The intricate pattern seen here comes from imaging a thin film of anthracene crystals at 10× magnification using a microscopy method known as crossed polarization. Griffin Reed, who holds a master’s degree in chemistry from Western Washington University, grew the film using a novel deposition technique as part of his research in David Patrick’s lab. “This image demonstrates the concept of birefringence in individual crystalline grains: each area with uniform color and brightness shows an area where molecules are aligned in a single crystal lattice, called a ‘grain,’ ” Reed explains. Rotating the film under the crossed polarizers alters the grains’ brightness. Reed used anthracene, an organic semiconductor, as a model compound in his studies on molecular crystal growth and patterning.

Submitted by Griffin Reed

Read more at Crystal Growth & Design 2020, DOI: 10.1021/acs.cgd.0c00194.

Do science. Take pictures. Win money. Enter our photo contest here.

Click here to see more Chemistry in Pictures.