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Atomic-Scale Imaging and Spectroscopy for In Situ Liquid Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 May 2012

Katherine L. Jungjohann ,
James E. Evans ,
Jeffery A. Aguiar ,
Ilke Arslan  and
Nigel D. Browning
Katherine L. Jungjohann*
Affiliation:
Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of California, Davis, One Shields Ave., Davis, CA 95616, USA
James E. Evans
Affiliation:
Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of California, Davis, One Shields Ave., Davis, CA 95616, USA
Jeffery A. Aguiar
Affiliation:
Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of California, Davis, One Shields Ave., Davis, CA 95616, USA Department of Physical and Life Sciences, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, 7000 East Avenue, Livermore, CA 94550, USA
Ilke Arslan
Affiliation:
Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of California, Davis, One Shields Ave., Davis, CA 95616, USA
Nigel D. Browning
Affiliation:
Department of Chemical Engineering and Materials Science, University of California, Davis, One Shields Ave., Davis, CA 95616, USA Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, University of California, Davis, One Shields Ave., Davis, CA 95616, USA
*
Corresponding author. E-mail: klweeks@ucdavis.edu
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Abstract

Observation of growth, synthesis, dynamics, and electrochemical reactions in the liquid state is an important yet largely unstudied aspect of nanotechnology. The only techniques that can potentially provide the insights necessary to advance our understanding of these mechanisms is simultaneous atomic-scale imaging and quantitative chemical analysis (through spectroscopy) under environmental conditions in the transmission electron microscope. In this study we describe the experimental and technical conditions necessary to obtain electron energy loss (EEL) spectra from a nanoparticle in colloidal suspension using aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) combined with the environmental liquid stage. At a fluid path length below 400 nm, atomic resolution images can be obtained and simultaneous compositional analysis can be achieved. We show that EEL spectroscopy can be used to quantify the total fluid path length around the nanoparticle and demonstrate that characteristic core-loss signals from the suspended nanoparticles can be resolved and analyzed to provide information on the local interfacial chemistry with the surrounding environment. The combined approach using aberration-corrected STEM and EEL spectra with the in situ fluid stage demonstrates a plenary platform for detailed investigations of solution-based catalysis.

Keywords

STEMin situliquid cellEELSspectroscopyatomic resolution
Type
Techniques Development
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 18 , Issue 3 , June 2012 , pp. 621 - 627
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America 2012

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