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About us |
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Nanolab is the electron microscopy laboratory of the University of Pannonia (UP). We study the structures, compositions, and morphologies of solid materials, from atomic resolution to the micrometer scale, using a wide variety of electron microscopy techniques. Nanolab is part of UP's Research Institute of Biomolecular and Chemical Engineering. Nanolab staff are members of the Environmental Mineralogy Research Group. In addition to pursuing our own research projects, our facility provides service to both internal (UP) and external users. If you wish to use the services of Nanolab, please fill in this form. |
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| News | ||
| The art of science - exhibition of TEM images | ||
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We embark on a new adventure by opening a "fine-art" exhibition displaying various types of transmission electron microscopy images. The goals are to show the inherent visual beauty of nanoscale objects and phenomena, and to inform the general public about our research. "The art of science in electron microscope images" will open at 5 pm on February 14, in the Great Hall of Univ. Pannonia, Veszprém, and can be seen until February 28. |
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| Transformations of amorphous calcium carbonate | ||
| Amorphous calcium carbonate (ACC) seems to be everywhere but details of its transformation into the stable calcium carbonate polymorphs (calcite and aragonite) remain elusive. Zsombor Molnár's experimental study (published in Geochimica et Cosmochimica Acta) shows how the stability and conversion of ACC are affected by magnesium and phosphate ions, as well as by pre-existing silicate surfaces. As in our former studies, the magic of smectite clay in making rapidly calcite is again revealed, with possible consequences for diagenesis, carbon sequestration and phosphorus cycling. |  |
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| 18th Winter School in Mineral Sciences (Feb 10-11, 2023) | ||
| This year our traditional winter school took place at the University of Pannonia in Veszprém. With 70 registered participants and 21 talks, we had an intense one-and-a-half-day program, with lively discussions. Most labs active in mineralogical research in Hungary were represented, plus we got glimpses into theoretical chemistry, solid state physics, astrophysics, archaeometry and nanotechnology. Thank you to all speakers and participants for making this event a party of mineral sciences. |  |
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| Sediment formation in Lake Balaton | ||
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Lake Balaton is a large, shallow, calcareous lake that can be regarded as a “carbonate factory”. Over a two-year period we measured the amount and type of minerals delivered into the lake by inflows and rain, and estimated the amount of carbonates precipitating from lakewater. We found that almost 90% of current sediment accumulation consists of carbonate minerals that form within the lake, the composition of which reflects environmental changes: at low water level their Mg content increases, and even protodolomite can form. |
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| Magnetic aerosol particles emitted by cars | ||
| With Ilona Nyirő-Kósa as lead author, and contribution from our MSc alumnus Faizan Ahmad, a new paper was published in Atmospheric Environment X. The study discusses the nanoscale structural and chemical properties of ferrimagnetic particles emitted by gasoline-powered cars. Both tailpipe emissions and particles from braking were analyzed and compared with magnetic particles collected from ambient urban air. It appears that tailpipe emissions constitute an important source of magnetite nanoparticles (wrapped in carbon layers) that occur in the urban air. |  |
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| Carbonate Workshop (July 4-5, 2022) | ||
| Geochemistry and Mineralogy of Calcium Carbonate Polymorphs - with this title Péter Németh organized an international workshop in Veszprém, at the Regional Centre of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences. Several well-known experts of carbonate geochemistry and crystallography attended, either personally or through zoom. Our group enthusiastically joined, with Péter Pekker, Zsombor Molnár and Mihály Pósfai presenting their results on protodolomite, heterogeneous carbonate crystal nucleation, and carbonate formation in Lake Balaton, respectively. We expect that new joint research projects will bud from the event. |  |
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| Construction around our lab (June 2022) | ||
| In preparation for being the "cultural capital of Europe" in 2023, at the moment the city of Veszprém looks like a giant construction site. An underground parking structure is being built right in front of Nanolab. Apart from a few power interruptions, so far the banging/digging have not affected our TEM studies. We keep our fingers crossed. |  |
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| New grant supports the Environmental Mineralogy Research Group (May 2022) | ||
| The Environmental Mineralogy Research Group successfully applied to the Eötvös Loránd Research Network for support for a five-year period starting on July 1st 2022. The grant will allow us to start new, interdisciplinary lines of research. We will study the structures and formation of specific biominerals, and the roles of microbe-mineral interactions that seem to be important in phosphorus cycling in lakes. |  |
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| Exotic new types of biomineralization | ||
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Two new studies have been published with contribution from our lab, both of which report on previously unknown types of biominerals. Research led by Yeseul Park and Damien Faivre (CEA Cadarache, France) showed that a magnetotactic bacterium produces copper sulfide particles in a rather unusual location, in the periplasmic space, when cultured in copper-rich media. Another paper by Laurence Garvie (ASU), with contribution from Péter Németh, discusses the precipitation of hydrated amorphous calcium carbonate by a peculiar organism, the dog vomit slime mold. |
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| Winter School in Mineral Sciences Jan 28-29, 2022 | ||
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The Winter School in Mineralogy is a mixture of workshop and conference, a two-day event we have organized every January for the last 17 years. With online meetings becoming the norm, our school turned quite international. This year our special theme will be "Nanoscale phenomena with global consequences". Please check the developing program and you are very welcome to attend. |
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| Two students from Nanolab graduate (July 2021) | ||
| Congratulations to Anett Lázár (MSc, chemistry, right in the picture) and Regina Kövér (BSc, chemistry, pictured on left) on receiving their degrees! Anett synthesized and studied transformations of a hydrated calcium carbonate mineral, ikaite (under supervision by Péter Németh), while Regina studied composition, structure and environmental signature in fish otoliths (supervised by Zsombor Molnár and Mihály Pósfai). Both produced excellent theses and won awards in student competition. Good luck in your future research work. |  |
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Magnetite mesocrystals and a new crystal growth mechanism
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| With contribution from Nanolab (electron tomographic reconstruction of 3D nanomorphologies), a new paper by Lucas Kuhrts et al.: "Wettability of magnetite nanoparticles guides growth from stabilized amorphous ferrihydrite" was published in JACS. In a magnetite synthesis procedure mimicking biomineralization, an amorphous iron oxide precursor is first stabilized by polyarginine. When crystalline magnetite nuclei form, they are wetted by the still present amorphous material, making the crystals grow. Since the wetting (the contact angle) is pH-dependent, by varying the pH either simple single crystals or cauliflower-looking mesocrystals are produced. While these results explain the formation of the strange magnetite mesocrystals, they also provide a new tool for controlling crystal growth from solution. |  |
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| Smectite clays affect carbonate precipitation and aging | ||
| An important new paper by the EnvMin Research Group has been published. Zsombor Molnár et al. (EPSL) experimentally studied calcium (magnesium) carbonate precipitation in the presence of clay minerals. Smectite accelerates calcite formation, and when a Mg-bearing solution is aged in its presence, protodolomite forms. Interactions between smectite and carbonates may be important in a number of environments, including lakes, oceans, soil and sediments. |  |
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| New HRTEM paper on beam-sensitive kaolinite | ||
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With the contributions of members of the EnvMin Research Group, a study on the structure and morphology of kaolinite nanoscrolls has been published (Makó et al., Appl. Clay Sci.). We are proud of this paper because it is the first from Nanolab using some not-so-conventional TEM techniques: low-dose imaging and electron crystallographic image processing, in order to obtain fine structural details from this extremely beam-sensitive material. |
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| Six-legged visitors | ||
| In general, we are happy to host visitors but we had some of the unpleasant types recently: stink bugs in winter and ants in summer. However, one morning a beautiful stag-beetle welcomed us on the wall, and today a large mantis paid a visit. |  |
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| Three students from Nanolab graduate, congratulations! (June 2020) |
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Three theses prepared by contributions from Nanolab were defended, all receiving "excellent" grade: Winfred Nyokabi (env. sci. MSc): Potential disolution of calcium carbonate shells in a freshwater environment; Faizan Ahmad (env. sci. MSc): Properties and possible sources of magnetic nanoparticles in the urban atmosphere; Bálint Tóth (chemistry BSc): Characterization of individual aerosol particles generated by household waste burning. Congratulations to our fresh degree-holders, their thesis supervisors and all members of the group who contributed. We wish Winfred, Faizan and Bálint well in their future endeavors. (From left to right in the group photo: Zsombor Molnár, Kornél Rácz, Winfred Nyokabi, Faizan Ahmad, Ilona Nyirő-Kósa, Mihály Pósfai, Péter Pekker; in separate photo: Bálint Tóth; among the supervisors-contributors, missing from the photo is Csilla Balogh, Balaton Limnological Institute, Tihany) |
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| Cave bacteria making carbonates - paper using Nanolab results published in Sci. Rep. (May 2020) | ||
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Bacteria cultivated from Baradla Cave are capable of stabilizing amorphous carbonate at room temperature, and thus provide an opportunity for an analysis of this peculiar carbonate form and for a better understanding of carbonate formation. Amorphous carbonate may be common in temperate caves and its occurrence is directly linked to bacterial activity. This material presumably influences the geochemical signal recorded in cave sediments and thus the conclusions of past environmental and climate changes. The results by Nóra Enyedi, Péter Németh and coworkers rely heavily on data obtained using the Talos in Nanolab. |
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Nanolab closed for visitors because of the coronavirus situation (March-April 2020) |
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From March 12 until further notice the Nanolab is closed for external users. We continue to do measurements; however, since only one staff member is allowed in the lab at any time, our capacity is reduced.
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| Guest from Australia (January 2020) | ||
| Professor Silvia Frisia from the University of Newcastle spends some time in Nanolab. Dolomite microstructures, cave carbonates and contemporary stromatolites are on the plate. |  |
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| Summer internship of three students, launching new projects in biomineralization and atmospheric aerosol science, our research portfolio gradually widens. |  |
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| Guest from Potsdam |  |
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| Lucas Kuhrts PhD student spends two weeks here to get trained in HAADF electron tomography. | ||
| Nanolab inauguration and electron microscopy mini-conference - October 2, 2018 |  |
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| Official opening of Nanolab. In the afternoon famous electron microscopists gave lectures: Peter Buseck, Rafal Dunin-Borkowski, Aleksander Recnik, Béla Pécz and Péter Németh. | ||
| A bunch of electron microscopists who - at some point in their career - have been associated with Peter Buseck's group at Arizona State University (from left to right: István Dódony, Michael Czank, Peter Buseck, Mihály Pósfai, Péter Németh, Rafal Dunin-Borkowski). |  |
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Nano-picnic, Sept 2018 |
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| Before the official inauguration, the staff of the University of Pannonia was given a tour of the new lab - along with a picnic including beer and some food. | ||
| User training started |  |
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| All through the summer several 3-day training sessions were held for prospective new users - we hope there will be many of them. | ||
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The Talos arrived! |
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The Talos TEM arrived! There was some panic (apparently, the doorstep was a bit too high), but the instrument is now in its place in the brand new Nanolab building, and awaiting installation. |
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| Apreo SEM is working - December 2017 | ||
| The Apreo SEM produced the first images, and the EDAX energy-dispersive system (EDS) and the electron backscattered diffraction (EBSD) detector also arrived. |  |
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| Ion millling machine - November 2017 | ||
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We have received the ion milling machine. Temporarily it will be placed in building C but its final place will be in the new TEM building. |
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| Progress in Nanolab construction - Nov 2017 | ||
| The walls of the new TEM building are standing, except for the microscope room – the 50-ton concrete slab is done, this will ensure vibration-free operating conditions. |   |
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| The SEM is here - November 2017 | ||
| The Apreo FEG-SEM arrived! The microscope was successfully transported up to the 3rd floor in building C, to the Institute of Materials Engineering. Installation will take about 3 to 4 weeks. |  |
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