Quasi-Two-Dimensional NaCl Crystals Encapsulated Between Graphene Sheets and their Decomposition under the Electron Beam

Nanoscale ◽  
2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tibor Lehnert ◽  
Silvan Kretschmer ◽  
Fredrik Bräuer ◽  
Arkady V Krasheninnikov ◽  
Ute Kaiser
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Transmission Electron Microscopy ◽  
Electron Beam ◽  
Sodium Chloride ◽  
Saline Solution ◽  
Graphene Sheets ◽  
Two Dimensional ◽  
Transmission Electron ◽  
Aberration Corrected

Quasi-two-dimensional (2D) sodium chloride (NaCl) crystals of various lateral sizes between graphene sheets were manufactured via supersaturation from a saline solution. Aberration-corrected transmission electron microscopy was used for systematic in-situ...

scholarly journals Visualizing Ligand-Mediated Bimetallic Nanocrystal Formation Pathways with In Situ Liquid Phase Transmission Electron Microscopy Synthesis

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mei Wang ◽  
Asher Leff ◽  
Yue Li ◽  
Taylor Woehl
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Transmission Electron Microscopy ◽  
Electron Beam ◽  
Ex Situ ◽  
Formation Mechanisms ◽  
Transmission Electron ◽  
Thiolate Complexes ◽  
Nanocrystal Formation ◽  
Phase Transmission

Colloidal synthesis of alloyed multimetallic nanocrystals with precise composition control remains a challenge and a critical missing link in theory-driven rational design of functional nanomaterials. Liquid phase transmission electron microscopy (LP-TEM) enables directly visualizing nanocrystal formation mechanisms that can inform discovery of design rules for colloidal multimetallic nanocrystal synthesis, but it remains unclear whether the salient chemistry of the flask synthesis is preserved in the extreme electron beam radiation environment during LPTEM. Here we demonstrate controlled in situ LP-TEM synthesis of alloyed AuCu nanoparticles while maintaining the molecular structure of electron beam sensitive metal thiolate precursor complexes. Ex situ flask synthesis experiments showed that nearly equimolar AuCu alloys formed from heteronuclear metal thiolate complexes, while gold-rich alloys formed in their absence. Systematic dose rate-controlled in situ LP-TEM synthesis experiments established a range of electron beam synthesis conditions that formed alloyed AuCu nanoparticles with similar alloy composition, random alloy structure, and particle size distribution shape as those from ex situ flask synthesis, indicating metal thiolate complexes were preserved under these conditions. Reaction kinetic simulations of radical-ligand reactions revealed that polymer capping ligands acted as effective hydroxyl radical scavengers during LP-TEM synthesis and prevented metal thiolate oxidation at low dose rates. In situ synthesis experiments and ex situ atomic scale imaging revealed that a key role of metal thiolate complexes was to prevent copper atom oxidation and facilitate formation of prenucleation cluster intermediates. This work demonstrates that complex ion precursor chemistry can be maintained during LP-TEM imaging, enabling probing nanocrystal formation mechanisms with LP-TEM under reaction conditions representative of ex situ flask synthesis.

Direct Observation of Defect Motion in Silicon By High-Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy

1985 ◽  
Vol 43 ◽  
pp. 358-359
Author(s):  
M. A. Parker ◽  
R. Sinclair
Keyword(s):  
Electron Microscopy ◽  
Transmission Electron Microscopy ◽  
Electron Beam ◽  
High Resolution ◽  
Crystal Defects ◽  
Incident Electron Beam ◽  
Transmission Electron ◽  
Heating Effects ◽  
Electron Beam Heating

Observations of defect motion by high resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) are rare. Unfortunately, the application of this technique has been limited to a few unique materials, those that can obtain sufficient thermal energy for the initiation of atomic motion through the heating effects of the incident electron beam. In earlier work, it was speculated that events such as the motion of crystal defects, observed in cadmium telluride (CdTe) with the electron beam heating method, might become evident in materials such as silicon (Si) if only sufficiently high temperatures could be achieved (∼ 600°C) in-situ.A silicon specimen with a suitable population of defects was chosen for examination; it consisted of a cross-section of.3 μ ﹛100﹜ silicon on ﹛1102﹜ sapphire (SOS from Union Carbide) which was implant amorphized by 28Si+ ion implantation at an energy of ∼ 170keV.

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