Recently a LinkedIn post caught my attention: Armin VahidMohammadi, a Ph.D. candidate and research assistant at Auburn University, U.S., who I met in 2018 MRS Meeting in Boston, won the MRS Science as Art competition again. It is the third time Armin wins, and he is the only graduate student who achieves this hat trick as the first and leading author of the artwork. Last year, Armin was the Grand prize winner of JEOL USA’s scanning electron microscopy (SEM) image contest.
(Credit: Armin VahidMohammadi)
Armin VahidMohammadi, the Alabama NASA EPSCoR (GRSP) Ph.D. Fellow and a Research Assistant of Materials Engineering in the Department of Mechanical & Materials Engineering, Auburn University, U.S.
Nano Nemo MXene: Grand Prize Winner of the 2017 JEOL SEM Image Contest
(Credit: Courtesy of Armin VahidMohammadi at Auburn University, U.S., and JEOL USA)
The nano-sized layers of a Ti2C particle represent the Nemo character in the Pixar’s animation, Finding Nemo, and its reflection in the water.
The MXene Yoda: Second Place Winner of 2019 MRS Spring Meeting

(Credit: Courtesy of Armin VahidMohammadi at Auburn University, U.S., and the Materials Research Society)
A colored SEM image of an oxidized two-dimensional (2D) V2CTx (Tx represents terminal elements, e.g., O, F and OH) resembling the Yoda character in the Star Wars Movie series.
The MXene Turtle: First Place Winner of the 2018 MRS Fall Meeting

(Credit: Courtesy of Armin VahidMohammadi at Auburn University, U.S., and the Materials Research Society)
A colored SEM image of a 2D V2CTx particle showing similarities to the head of an imaginary giant turtle. V2CTx is synthesized by selective etching Al atoms from V2AlC and is a promising electrode material for energy-storage devices.
Nano Lord Voldemort: First Place Winner of the 2016 MRS Fall Meeting

(Credit: Courtesy of Armin VahidMohammadi at Auburn University, U.S., and the Materials Research Society)
A colored SEM image of a layered Ti2C particle mimicking the face of Lord Voldemort, a character in the Harry Potter movie series. Ti2C is synthesized by selective etching Al atoms from Ti2AlC and is a promising electrode material for energy-storage devices.
Inspired by his outstanding images and impressive presentations, and as a beginner struggling in rendering breath-taking three-dimensional (3D) illustrations, I am eager to know how this young materials scientist falls in love with digital art. I finally fulfilled my curiosity by having a conversation with Armin a week ago. With his permission, I am sharing the story about how he acquired, developed, and practiced the skills of scientific drawing.
The Early Days
Creating and animating 3D models fascinated Armin, a then high school student. "Making 3D models and computer-generated graphics is amazing, particularly when making photo-realistic models." says Armin, "Whenever I show 3D artworks to other people and they think the images are real, it makes me excited!" The capability of the computer graphics and 3D modeling in designing and creating photo-realistic images further stimulated Armin to expand his knowledge in this field.
Armin, and his brother, Aidin, managed to teach themselves how to work with different 3D software by reading the manuals and instructions of them. “Aidin was so passionate in 3D artworks and we always were discussing new things. I am sure we could never do what we can do today without learning and working together. Aidin had a big role in mastering the skills”, Armin says. The two passionate learners soon reached a reasonable level of skills and developed their first portfolio of sample works. Impressed by their high-quality pictures, local television companies approached and hired Armin and his brother to work on different animation projects. It was only 16 years old that Armin got his first job offer to design 3D models and create 3D animations. In 2011, Armin entered the Sharif University of Technology in Iran as an undergraduate student; there he continued to work as a freelance artist. Notably, he and his brother served as 3D modelers for the TV series of "Alavi Detector-Part 2" and a few other TV commercials. These experiences had deeply sharpened Armin's 3D modeling skills.
Materials Research Embraces Art
Armin's research focuses on electrochemistry and applications of novel nanomaterials in monovalent (e.g., Li+) or multivalent (e.g., Al3+) ion batteries and supercapacitors (a.k.a. ultracapacitors). He chose this research field because he believes that energy storage devices are increasingly important for modern society, particularly in the next few years when electric cars will start to dominate the vehicle market. In the Sharif University of Technology, Armin investigated the syntheses and characterizations of nanomaterials in addition to his interest. "To be honest, I have always wished to make truly high-performance and reliable batteries that will make a difference in our lives," says Armin. After moving to Auburn University, Armin started working on 2D metal carbides and nitrides (MXenes) and 2D metal oxides as battery and supercapacitor electrodes.
Armin always enjoys leveraging his 3D modeling skills to help with his research, by both making schematics to illustrate the working mechanisms of his energy-storage devices and delineating the procedures of material syntheses. Armin believes that a major problem of scientific presentations is the lack of eye-catching and informative images to make people excited and interested. "I have frequently noticed that many researchers have done pretty cool and significant works, but they fail to deliver their ground-breaking discoveries in a visually appealing way to impress the audience," says Armin. To avoid the pitfalls, Armin supplies his presentations with vivid illustrations (examples below). "Sometimes, my scientific illustrations attract more attention than my works themselves. For example, after one presentation in the past MRS meeting, some fellow researchers asked me how I made my slides or the graphics, instead of talking about the science of my research. It’s not a negative thing though, because it indicates that at least the audience paid attention to my slides and listened to my talk. The main purpose of using eye-catching illustrations in science is to attract people and facilitate understanding of your works."
Armin used this scheme to show the synthesis procedures of the cation-assisted assembly of stable V2CTx MXene nanosheets. Credit: VahidMohammadi et al., Adv. Mater. 2019, 31, 1806931.

Armin rendered this illustration to show the working mechanism of an Al-ion battery consisting of a V2CTx cathode, an Al anode, and an AlCl3-containing ionic liquid electrolyte. Credit: VahidMohammadi et al., ACS Nano 2017, 11, 11135-11144.
How to Start Learning 3D Drawing
Armin believes perseverance is essential. You need to set your mind that whatever software you learn, it is going to be a non-trivial task and a long journey, particularly if you want to render sophisticated 3D models. It may take a year or more of constant practice to master only a small portion of only one advanced drawing software. Nowadays, tutorial articles and videos are widely available for various drawing software and learners of different levels, but you always need your dedication and persistence to support you through the challenging yet encouraging learning processes.
Tianyu Liu
The author of the post appreciates Armin VahidMohammadi of Auburn University (U.S.), Xiaozhou Yang of Virginia Tech (U.S.), and Hortense Le Ferrand of Nanyang Technological University (Singapore) for their careful proofread.