About CNM

The Center for Nanoscale Materials (CNM) at Argonne National Laboratory is a joint partnership between the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) and the State of Illinois, as part of DOE’S Nanoscale Science Research Center program. The CNM serves as a user-based center, providing tools and infrastructure for nanoscience and nanotechnology research. The CNM's mission includes supporting basic research and the development of advanced instrumentation that will help generate new scientific insights and create new materials with novel properties. The CNM, with its centralized facilities, controlled environments, technical support, and scientific staff, enables researchers to excel and significantly extend their reach.

CNM researchers work at the leading edge of science and technology to develop capabilities and knowledge that complement those of industry. The challenges the CNM faces involve fabricating and exploring novel nanoscale materials and, ultimately, employing unique synthesis and characterization methods to control and tailor nanoscale phenomena. The unique capabilities of Argonne's Advanced Photon Source play a key role in that their hard X-rays, harnessed in a nanoprobe beamline, provide unprecedented capabilities to characterize extremely small structures.

Argonne's long-standing culture of outreach to, and inclusion of, the academic and industrial communities help support regional and national goals and strategic interests. The CNM welcomes outside users, both as independent investigators and as collaborators, from a wide range of scientific fields. This accessibility ensures a cross-disciplinary approach to nano-related research that enables ideas and activities to cross-pollinate, mature, and evolve over time into the pathways of scientific investigation and discovery that will help shape the future of our society.