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An Open-Cell Environmental Transmission Electron Microscopy Technique for In Situ Characterization of Samples in Aqueous Liquid Solutions

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  17 January 2020

Barnaby D.A. Levin Open the ORCID record for Barnaby D.A. Levin [Opens in a new window] ,
Diane Haiber ,
Qianlang Liu  and
Peter A. Crozier
Barnaby D.A. Levin
Affiliation:
School for Engineering of Matter, Transport, and Energy, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
Diane Haiber
Affiliation:
School for Engineering of Matter, Transport, and Energy, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
Qianlang Liu
Affiliation:
School for Engineering of Matter, Transport, and Energy, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
Peter A. Crozier*
Affiliation:
School for Engineering of Matter, Transport, and Energy, Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ, USA
*
*Author for correspondence: Peter A. Crozier, E-mail: crozier@asu.edu
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Abstract

The desire to image specimens in liquids has led to the development of open-cell and closed-cell techniques in transmission electron microscopy (TEM). The closed-cell approach is currently more common in TEM and has yielded new insights into a number of biological and materials processes in liquid environments. The open-cell approach, which requires an environmental TEM (ETEM), is technically challenging but may be advantageous in certain circumstances due to fewer restrictions on specimen and detector geometry. Here, we demonstrate a novel approach to open-cell liquid TEM, in which we use salt particles to facilitate the in situ formation of droplets of aqueous solution that envelope specimen particles coloaded with the salt. This is achieved by controlling sample temperature between 1 and 10°C and introducing water vapor to the ETEM chamber above the critical pressure for the formation of liquid water on the salt particles. Our use of in situ hydration enables specimens to be loaded into a microscope in a dry state using standard 3 mm TEM grids, allowing specimens to be prepared using trivial sample preparation techniques. Our future aim will be to combine this technique with an in situ light source to study photocorrosion in aqueous environments.

Keywords

aqueous solutionenvironmental transmission electron microscopyin situnanoparticles
Type
Software and Instrumentation
Information
Microscopy and Microanalysis , Volume 26 , Issue 1 , February 2020 , pp. 134 - 138
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America 2020

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