PNNL

Abstract

Materials synthesis and the functioning of devices often indispensably involve liquid media. But direct visualization of dynamic process in liquids, especially with high spatial and temporal resolution, has been challenging. For solid materials, advances in aberration corrected electron microscopy have made observation of atomic level features a routine practice. Here we discuss the extent to which one can take advantage of the resolution of modern electron microscopes to image phenomenon occuring in liquids. We will describe the fundamentals of two different experimental approaches, closed and open liquid cells. We will illustrate the capabilities of each approach by considering processes in batteries and nucleation and growth of nanoparticles from solution. We conclude that liquid cell electron microscopy appears to be duly fulfilling its role for in situ studies of nanoscale processes in liquids, revealing physical and chemical processes otherwise difficult to observe.