Mapping and Controlling Liquid Layer Thickness in Liquid-Phase (Scanning) Transmission Electron Microscopy.
Small Methods
; 5(6): e2001287, 2021 Jun.
Article
en En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-34927906
ABSTRACT
Liquid-Phase (Scanning) Transmission Electron Microscopy (LP-(S)TEM) has become an essential technique to monitor nanoscale materials processes in liquids in real-time. Due to the pressure difference between the liquid and the microscope vacuum, bending of the silicon nitride (SiNx ) membrane windows generally occurs. This causes a spatially varying liquid layer thickness that makes interpretation of LP-(S)TEM results difficult due to a locally varying achievable resolution and diffusion limitations. To mediate these difficulties, it is shown 1) how to quantitatively map liquid layer thickness for any liquid at less than 0.01 e- Å-2 total dose; 2) how to dynamically modulate the liquid thickness by tuning the internal pressure in the liquid cell, co-determined by the Laplace pressure and the external pressure. It is demonstrated that reproducible inward bulging of the window membranes can be realized, leading to an ultra-thin liquid layer in the central window area for high-resolution imaging. Furthermore, it is shown that the liquid thickness can be dynamically altered in a programmed way, thereby potentially overcoming the diffusion limitations towards achieving bulk solution conditions. The presented approaches provide essential ways to measure and dynamically adjust liquid thickness in LP-(S)TEM experiments, enabling new experiment designs and better control of solution chemistry.
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1
Colección:
01-internacional
Base de datos:
MEDLINE
Idioma:
En
Revista:
Small Methods
Año:
2021
Tipo del documento:
Article
País de afiliación:
Países Bajos