Welcome to the Amira-Avizo Software Use Case Gallery
Below you will find a collection of use cases of our 3D data visualization and analysis software. These use cases include scientific publications, articles, papers, posters, presentations or even videos that show how Amira-Avizo Software is used to address various scientific and industrial research topics.
Use the Domain selector to filter by main application area, and use the Search box to enter keywords related to specific topics you are interested in.
Lithium-ion (Li-ion) batteries operate via electrochemical reactions between positive and negative electrodes, formed by complex porous microstructures. An improved understanding of these materials can lead to a greater insight into the link between microscopic electrode morphology and macroscopic performance. The practice of calendering electrodes after manufacturing has been widely used to increase the volumetric energy density and improve the electrical contact between electrode... Read more
S. R. Daemi,X. Lu, D. Sykes, J. Behnsen, C. Tan, A. Palacios-Padros, J. Cookson, E. Petrucco, P. J. Withers, D. J. L. Brett and P. R. Shearing
Four-Dimensional Studies of Morphology Evolution in Lithium–Sulfur Batteries
Lithium sulfur (Li–S) batteries have great potential as a successor to Li-ion batteries, but their commercialization has been complicated by a multitude of issues stemming from their complex multiphase chemistry. In situ X-ray tomography investigations enable direct observations to be made about a battery, providing unprecedented insight into the microstructural evolution of the sulfur cathode and shedding light on the reaction kinetics of the sulfur phase. Here, for the first time, the mor... Read more
Chun Tan, Thomas M. M. Heenan, Ralf F. Ziesche, Sohrab R. Daemi, Jennifer Hack, Maximilian Maier, Shashidhara Marathe, Christoph Rau, Daniel J. L. Brett, Paul R. Shearing
The electrode microstructural properties significantly influence the efficiency and durability of many electrochemical devices including solid oxide fuel cells. Despite the possibility of simulating the electrochemical phenomena within real three-dimensional microstructures, the potential of such 3D microstructural information has not yet been fully exploited. We introduce here a completely new methodology for the advanced characterization of inhomogeneous current distribution base... Read more
A.Bertei, V.Yufit, F.Tariq, N.P.Brandon
The use of contrast enhancement techniques in X-ray imaging of lithium–ion battery electrodes
Understanding the microstructural morphology of Li–ion battery electrodes is crucial to improving the electrochemical performance of current Li–ion battery systems and in developing next-generation power systems. The use of 3D X-ray imaging techniques, which are continuously evolving, provides a noninvasive platform to study the relationship between electrode microstructure and performance at various time and length scales. In addition to characterizing a weakly (X-ray) absorbing graphite... Read more
Oluwadamilola O. Taiwo , Donal P. Finegan , Jeff Gelb , Christian Holzner , Daniel J.L. Brett , Paul R. Shearing
Nanoporous Aluminum by Galvanic Replacement: Dealloying and Inward-Growth Plating
In aqueous solutions, electro/chemically deposited metals usually grow outward into electrolyte. Here we report that the reduced Al grows inward into the sample, surprisingly, while Mg (in pure Mg and Al2Mg3 alloy) is galvanically replaced with Al in an ionic liquid. The galvanic replacement reaction (GRR) of Al2Mg3 involves a dealloying process that generates a nanoporous Al skeleton, and simultaneously the inward-growth plating of Al that thicke... Read more
Wei Yang, Xian-Gui Zheng, Shao-Gang Wang, Hai-Jun Jin
Biodegradable materials, such as collagen scaffolds, are used extensively in clinical medicine for tissue regeneration and/or as an implantable drug delivery vehicle. However, available methods to study biomaterial degradation are typically invasive, destructive, and/or non-volumetric. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate a new method for nondestructive, longitudinal, and volumetric measurement of collagen scaffold degradation. Gold nanoparticles (Au NPs) were covalently ... Read more
Tyler A. Finamore, Tyler E. Curtis, James V. Tedesco, Kathryn Grandfield, Ryan K. Roeder
Metal-organic frameworks tailor the properties of aluminum nanocrystals
Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and metal nanoparticles are two classes of materials that have received considerable recent attention, each for controlling chemical reactivities, albeit in very different ways. Here, we report the growth of MOF shell layers surrounding aluminum nanocrystals (Al NCs), an Earth-abundant metal with energetic, plasmonic, and photocatalytic properties. The MOF shell growth proceeds by means of dissolution-and-growth chemistry that uses the intrinsic surface oxide o... Read more
Hossein Robatjazi, Daniel Weinberg, Dayne F. Swearer, Christian Jacobson, Ming Zhang, Shu Tian, Linan Zhou, Peter Nordlander, Naomi J. Halas
Aging of a Pt/Al2O3 exhaust gas catalyst monitored by quasi in situ X-ray micro computed tomography
Catalyst aging effects were analyzed using X-ray absorption micro-computed tomography in combination with conventional characterization methods on various length scales ranging from nm to μm to gain insight into deactivation mechanisms.
For this purpose, a 4 wt% Pt/Al2O3 model exhaust gas catalyst was coated on a cordierite honeycomb and subjected to sequential thermal aging in static air at 950 °C for 4, 8, 12 and 24 hours. The ag... Read more
Georg Hofmann, Amélie Rochet, Elen Ogel, Maria Casapu, Stephan Ritter, Malte Ogurreck and Jan-Dierk Grunwaldt
Characterization of the Interface Between Coating and Fibrous Layers of Paper
Coated paper is an example of a multi-layer porous medium, involving a coating layer along the two surfaces of the paper and a fibrous layer in the interior of the paper. The interface between these two media needs to be characterized in order to develop relevant modeling tools. After careful cutting of the paper, a cross section was imaged using focused ion beam scanning electron microscopy. The resulting image was analyzed to characterize the coating layer and its transition to the fibrous ... Read more
H. Aslannejad, S. M. Hassanizadeh, M. A. Celia
The development of focused ion beam-scanning electron microscopy (FIB-SEM) techniques has allowed high-resolution 3D imaging of nanometre-scale porous materials. These systems are of important interest to the oil and gas sector, as well as for the safe long-term storage of carbon and nuclear waste. This work focuses on validating the accurate representation of sample pore space in FIB-SEM-reconstructed volumes and the predicted permeability of these systems from subsequent single-phase flow s... Read more
Department of Chemical Engineering, Qatar Carbonates and Carbon Storage Research Centre, Imperial College London | Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, Cambridge University
Despite the importance of studying the instability of delithiated cathode materials, it remains difficult to underpin the degradation mechanism of lithium-rich cathode materials due to the complication of combined chemical and structural evolutions. Herein, we use state-of-the-art electron microscopy tools, in conjunction with synchrotron X-ray techniques and first-principle calculations to study a 4d-element-containing compound, Li2Ru0.5Mn0.5O3. We find surprisingly, after cycling, ruthenium... Read more
Lin, Ruoqian AU - Hu, Enyuan AU - Liu, Mingjie AU - Wang, Yi AU - Cheng, Hao AU - Wu, Jinpeng AU - Zheng, Jin-Cheng AU - Wu, Qin AU - Bak, Seongmin AU - Tong, Xiao AU - Zhang, Rui AU - Yang, Wanli AU - Persson, Kristin A. AU - Yu, Xiqian AU - Yang, Xiao-Qing AU - Xin, Huolin L. PY
Visualizing the Carbon Binder Phase of Battery Electrodes in Three Dimensions
This study presents a technique to directly characterize the carbon and binder domain (CBD) in lithium-ion (Li-ion) battery electrodes in three dimensions and use it to determine the effective transport properties of a LiNi0.33Mn0.33Co0.33O2 (NMC) electrode. X-ray nanocomputed tomography (nano-CT) is used to image an electrode composed solely of carbon and binder, whereas focused ion beam–scanning electron microscopy is used to analyze cross-sect... Read more
Sohrab R. Daemi, Chun Tan, Tobias Volkenandt, Samuel J. Cooper, Anna Palacios-Padros, James Cookson, Dan J. L. Brett, and Paul R. Shearing
Spatially resolved ultrasound diagnostics of Li-ion battery electrodes
The importance of reliable battery diagnostic systems has grown substantially in recent years as a result of the use of high power Li-ion battery packs in an increasingly diverse range of applications. Here, spatially resolved ultrasound acoustic measurements are used to analyse the condition of Li-ion electrodes. Ultrasonic measurements are performed on a commercial mobile phone battery over the full operating voltage window with the lithiation and delithiation of electrodes o... Read more
James B. Robinson, Maximilian Maier , George Alster , Tomos Compton , Dan J. L. Brett and Paul R. Shearing
The importance of context in regulation of gene expression is now an accepted principle; yet the mechanism by which the microenvironment communicates with the nucleus and chromatin in healthy tissues is poorly understood. A functional role for nuclear and cytoskeletal architecture is suggested by the phenotypic differences observed between epithelial and mesenchymal cells…
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Danielle M. Jorgens, Jamie L. Inman, Michal Wojcik, Claire Robertson, Hildur Palsdottir, Wen-Ting Tsai, Haina Huang, Alexandre Bruni-Cardoso, Claudia S. López, Mina J. Bissell, Ke Xu, Manfred Auer
Three-dimensional imaging of the intracellular assembly of a functional viral RNA replicase complex
Positive-strand RNA viruses, which can be devastating pathogens in humans, animals and plants, replicate their genomes on intracellular membranes. Here, we describe the three-dimensional ultrastructural organization of a tombusvirus replicase in yeast, a valuable model for exploring virus–host interactions…
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Isabel Fernández de Castro, José J. Fernández, Daniel Barajas, Peter D. Nagy, Cristina Risco
The structure of the COPI coat determined within the cell
COPI-coated vesicles mediate trafficking within the Golgi apparatus and from the Golgi to the endoplasmic reticulum. Here, we applied cryo-focused ion beam milling, cryo-electron tomography and subtomogram averaging to determine the native structure of the COPI coat within vitrified Chlamydomonas reinhardtii cells. The native algal structure resembles the in vitro mammalian structure, but additionally reveals cargo bound beneath beta’–COP. We find that all coat components disassemble... Read more
Yury S Bykov, Miroslava Schaffer, Svetlana O Dodonova, Sahradha Albert, Jurgen M Plitzko, Wolfgang Baumeister, Benjamin D Engel, John AG Briggs
In Situ Structure of Neuronal C9orf72 Poly-GA Aggregates Reveals Proteasome Recruitment
Protein aggregation and dysfunction of the ubiquitin-proteasome system are hallmarks of many neurodegenerative diseases. Here, we address the elusive link between these phenomena by employing cryo-electron tomography to dissect the molecular architecture of protein aggregates within intact neurons at high resolution. We focus on the poly-Gly-Ala (poly-GA) aggregates resulting from aberrant translation of an expanded GGGGCC repeat in C9orf72, the most common genetic cause of amyotrophic latera... Read more
Qiang Guo, Carina Lehmer, Antonio Martinez-Sanchez, Till Rudack, Florian Beck, Hannelore Hartmann, Manuela Perez-Berlanga, Frederic Frottin, Mark S.Hipp, F. Ulrich Hartl, Dieter Edbauer, Wolfgang Baumeister, Ruben Fernandez-Busnadiego
Serial block-face electron microscopy (SBEM) provides nanoscale 3D ultrastructure of embedded and stained cells and tissues in volumes of up to 107 µm3. In SBEM, electrons with 1–3 keV energies are incident on a specimen block, from which backscattered electron (BSE) images are collected with x, y resolution of 5–10 nm in the block-face plane, and successive layers are removed by an in situ ultramicrotome. Sp... Read more
Q. He, M. Hsueh, G. Zhang, D. C. Joy & R. D. Leapman
Correlative cryo-electron microscopy reveals the structure of TNTs in neuronal cells
The orchestration of intercellular communication is essential for multicellular organisms. One mechanism by which cells communicate is through long, actin-rich membranous protrusions called tunneling nanotubes (TNTs), which allow the intercellular transport of various cargoes, between the cytoplasm of distant cells in vitro and in vivo. Here, we use correlative FIB-SEM, light- and cryo-electron microscopy approaches to elucidate the structural organization of neuronal TNTs. Our data indicate ... Read more
Anna Sartori-Rupp, Diégo Cordero Cervantes, Anna Pepe, Karine Gousset, Elise Delage, Simon Corroyer-Dulmont, Christine Schmitt, Jacomina Krijnse-Locker & Chiara Zurzolo
Defect detection in 3D printed carbon fibre composites using X-ray Computed Tomography
X-ray Computed Tomography (X-ray CT) has become a vital tool for product quality inspection. The X-ray CT analysis of 3D printed composites, with a layer-by-layer structure of carbon fibre/polyamide and polyamide plies, demonstrates how the void content increases with an increasing number of consecutive carbon fibre layers. Not only the void content, but also the pore
network complexity increases, as more pore types are introduced into the sample. The PolyAmide (PA) matrix has an averag... Read more
Jeroen Soete1, Brice Badoux, Yentl Swolfs, Larissa Gorbatikh, Martine Wevers
Juvenile Ovine Ex Vivo Larynges: Phonatory, Histologic, and Micro CT Based Anatomic Analyses
It is well known that the phonatory process changes during the life span. However, detailed investigations on potential factors concerned are rare. To deal with this issue, we performed extended biomechanical, macro anatomical, and histological analyses of the contributing laryngeal structures in ex vivo juvenile sheep models. Altogether twelve juvenile sheep larynges were analyzed within the phonatory experiments. Three different elongation levels and 16 different flow levels were applied to... Read more
Michael Döllinger, Olaf Wendler, Claus Gerstenberger, Tanja Grossmann, Marion Semmler, Hossein Sadeghi, and Markus Gugatschka