Botao Hao

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My research aims to apply electron ptychography to image the local ordering of polymers and macromolecules.

The crystallinity of polymers and macromolecules is fundamental to many key properties, such as mechanical, thermal, optical, and gas barrier properties. However, the local and detailed structures of many polymers and macromolecules have not been well established due to the lack of direct observation methods.

(S)TEM is a powerful technique that can potentially image polymers and macromolecules at high resolution. Still, it is challenging for conventional electron microscopies because of the severe beam sensitiveness and the low contrast of polymers and macromolecules.

Electron ptychography makes use of a 4D-STEM dataset comprising the intensity in the STEM detector plane and has lower sample damage and better phase contrast compared to traditional techniques. The advantages of electron ptychography make it helpful to overcome the existing challenges for the microstructural study of polymers and macromolecules, and electron ptychography can potentially revolutionise structure determinations of polymer and macromolecular crystals in the coming years. 

I received my BEng degree in Polymer Science and Engineering from Beijing University of Chemical Technology in 2017. After that, I moved to University College London for the MSc study in Advanced Materials Science under the supervision of Prof. Tung-Chun Lee. In August 2023, I completed my DPhil in Materials at University of Oxford, supervised by Prof. Hazel Assender and Prof. Peter Nellist. Outside of work, I like doing sports, watching movies and travelling.

317.10.03 Hirsch Building
Department of Materials
Begbroke Science Park

Email address: botao.hao@materials.ox.ac.uk
Telephone: +44(0) 1865 283715