Understanding nanoparticle growth mechanism is important for the controlled synthesis of nanoparticle. Traditionally, the growth mechanism has been revealed by tracing of sample aliquots, but such ex situ methods cannot provide real time information. Liquid cell TEM make it possible to observe nanoparticle growth directly in sub-nanometer scale. However, analyzing the massive data obtained from in-situ liquid phase TEM to extract mechanistic understanding in ensemble level is highly challenging and may require computational assistance. Herein, we introduce our study on monitoring real-time synthesis of platinum nanoparticles by using in-situ liquid phase TEM. The time-series of TEM images is converted to binary images and evaluated to track size changes of individual particles using the computational algorithm developed by our group. We show thermodynamic and kinetic factors that govern the particle growth rate and size based on investigating ensemble growth trajectories.

Understanding nanoparticle growth mechanism with liquid cell TEM and computational analysis

256th National Meeting (2018)

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