Materials engineering doctoral student Armin VahidMohammadi won first place in the Materials Research Society’s Science as Art competition for his depiction of an engineered nanomaterial as Lord Voldemort, the villain from the “Harry Potter” movie series.

Using a scanning electron microscope, VahidMohammadi was examining particles of an engineered nanomaterial when he noticed a particle that resembled Voldemort. He colorized the image and digitally enhanced it, adding eyes and teeth. The image won first place out of 168 submissions.

The particle pictured is known as Ti2C, which is a member of a family of two-dimensional, layered materials called MXenes. Ti2C has a wide array of applications, including as electrode materials for batteries and supercapacitors. The particle shown in the image is five microns in length, or roughly 10 times smaller than the width of a human hair.

VahidMohammadi is advised by Majid Beidaghi, assistant professor of materials engineering.