PNNL

Abstract

Currently there are few standardized experimental practices in the field of fluid stage transmission electron microscopy. To obtain consistency in this emerging field, a crucial step is to establish the common artifacts and electron beam-sample interactions that can occur. Recently many unintended phenomena have been observed during in situ fluid stage scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) experiments, including growth of crystals on the fluid stage windows, repulsion of particles from the irradiated area, bubble formation, and the loss of atomic information during prolonged imaging of individual nanoparticles. Here we provide a comprehensive review of these fluid stage artifacts, and we present new experimental evidence that sheds light on their origins in terms of experimental apparatus issues and indirect electron beam sample interactions with the fluid layer. The results here will provide a methodology for minimizing fluid stage imaging artifacts and acquiring quantitative in situ observations of nanomaterial behavior in a liquid environment.