Liquid cell transmission electron microscopy attracts much attention in biological and chemical research area as a high-resolution characterization method for dynamic processes in liquid media. Typical liquid cells mainly fabricated with silicon nitride membrane or graphene as a window material are widely used, however, both of them have technical limitations. In the former case, the thickness of the window is not thin enough to achieve sub-nm spatial resolution. The latter ensures high spatial resolution with remarkable mechanical, chemical, and physical properties suitable for facile liquid phase TEM, but it has the disadvantage that liquid pockets are formed with heterogeneous size and distribution. Herein, we propose a new design of liquid cell based on highly-ordered nanoscale chambers composed of self-assembled anodic aluminum oxide (AAO) membrane, sandwiched on both sides with graphene windows. The new liquid cell design allows high-resolution with simplicity TEM imaging process and statistical analysis of obtained in situ datasets. By using this, we monitor the dynamic motion and interaction between metal nanoparticles, especially focusing on the dependency of coalescence behavior on surface capping agents.

Self-assembled nanochamber arrays for liquid cell transmission electron microscopy

2019 Fall National Meeting

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