Name: revealing dynamic processes of materials in liquids using liquid cell transmission electron microscopy
Uploaded: 2012-12-20T12:55:00
Description: Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Revealing Dynamic Processes of Materials in Liquids Using Liquid Cell Transmission Electron Microscopy at JoVE.com

Zheng thanks Prof. A. Paul Alivisatos and Dr. Ulrich Dahmen for helpful
discussions during the early development of EM liquid cells. She is grateful to the support of
DOE Office of Science Early Career Research Program.

1. Microfabrication of Liquid Cells
<ol>
	<li>Prepare silicon wafers (p-doped, 100 &mu;m in thickness and 4 inches in diameter) and clean the wafers using a standard wafer bath cleaning procedure.</li>
	<li>Deposit low-stress silicon nitride thin films (20 nm in thickness) on both sides of the silicon wafers by low-pressure chemical vapor deposition (LPCVD) method. A custom developed recipe is used for the deposition, which allows the growth of silicon-rich nitride (SiNx, x&lt;4/3).</li>
	<li>Fabricate t...

<ol>
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Y. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=Monodisperse+Icosahedral+Ag,+Au,+and+Pd+Nanoparticles:+Size+Control+Strategy+and+Superlattice+Formation.">Monodisperse Icosahedral Ag, Au, and Pd Nanoparticles: Size Control Strategy and Superlattice Formation.</a> Acs Nano. 3, 139-148 (2009).</li><li>Xin, H. L., Zheng, H. <a target="_blank" href="http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=Search&doptcmdl=Citation&defaultField=Title+Word&term=In+Situ+Observation+of+Oscillatory+Growth+of+Bismuth+Nanoparticles.">In Situ Observation of Oscillatory Growth of Bismuth Nanoparticles.</a> Nano Letters. 12, 1470-1474 (2012).</li><li>Murray, C. 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All fabrication processes have been done in the clean room, where semiconductor devices are made.
Before the deposition of indium, O2 plasma cleaning of the chips is necessary to eliminate the organic residue on the surface. Thus, a high quality indium spacer can be achieved, which can improve the bonding of top and bottom chips and the yield of leakage free liquid cells.
The silicon nitride viewing windows with ultrathin membrane of about 13 nm thick i...

The study of chemical reactions in liquids in real time and imaging biological materials in their native environment have been of significant interests across the research fields1-5. Due to the high spatial resolution of transmission electron microscopy (TEM), imaging through liquids using TEM has attracted a lot of attention4,5. However, it has been a great challenge to image liquid samples using TEM, since the conventional microscope is operated in a high vacuum environment. In addition, liquid samples have to be thin enough to allow the electron beam to go through. Williamson et al.6 reported that imaging of electrochemical deposition of Cu can be achieved with 5 nm resolution using an electrochemical liquid cell operated in a TEM. De Jonge et al.1 was able to image biological samples through serveral micrometer thick water using a scanning(S) TEM. The low contrast of the biological samples was not raised as an issue since gold nanoparticles were used as markers for imaging. The thick liquid sample was not a problem either since STEM imaging mode was used and nanometer resolution was achieved. We recently developed a self-contained liquid cell, which allows real time TEM imaging of colloidal nanoparticles in liquids with subnanometer resolution5,7. These newly developed liquid cells, which offer improved resolution and faster TEM imaging (30 frames per second that has not been achieved by high resolution STEM imaging), made it possible to study colloidal nanoparticle dynamics in liquids. The liquid cells fit in a standard TEM holder and can be operated as regular TEM samples. A small amount of liquid (about 30 picoliters) can be examined in situ under an extended chemical reaction. Various imaging and analytical (i.e., energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy) techniques can be applied. Since the total thickness of the viewing window (including membranes and the liquid layer) can be controlled to 100 nm or below, direct imaging of biological samples (i.e. proteins) in liquid water without gold nanoparticle markers has also been achieved 8.
In the past two decades, there have been significant achievements on the syntheses and applications of colloidal nanocrystals9-11. However, the understanding of how nanoparticles nucleate, grow and interact with each other in liquids is largely empirical and mostly based on ex situ analyses11-13. Our development of liquid cell TEM provides a unique platform to study the dynamic processes of nanoparticles in liquids in situ5,7,14,15.
We fabricate a self-contained liquid cell using ultra thin silicon wafers (100 &mu;m) by a sequential microfabrication process. It includes deposition of silicon nitride membrane, photolithographic patterning, wafer etching, spacer deposition, and cell bonding, etc. About 50 nanoliters of the reaction solution is loaded into a reservoir, which is drawn into the cell by capillary force. We fill the other reservoir with another 50 nanoliters of the liquid. Subsequently, the cell is sealed and loaded into the microscope for in situ imaging. Inside the microscope, the liquid sandwiched between two silicon nitride membranes (total about 30 picoliters) can be examined. When the electron beam passes through the thin liquid layer, dynamic processes of nanoparticles in liquids can be monitored in real time. Nucleation and growth of nanoparticles can be induced by the electron beam in some cases5,7 or reactions can be triggered by an external heating source14,16. When the electron beam damage is of a concern, low electron beam current (dose) should be used.
Since liquid cells are fabricated from silicon microfabrication processes and in large batches, variations in membrane or liquid thickness among individual liquid cells can be small6. Any researcher who has basic microfabrication training can successfully make liquid cells. The liquid handling technique and in situ TEM operation can also be mastered after practice. It is noted that besides using silicon nitride membranes as the viewing windows, other materials such as silicon dioxide, silicon or carbon (including graphene) can be used as the membrane window as well17-19. Since our liquid cells using small viewing windows, i.e., 1 x 50 &mu;m, no bulging of the membranes has been observed. And, the liquid cell is also robust to operate, i.e. below 1% of liquid cells have broken windows during the experiments. In addition, thickness of the liquid layer can also be flexibly tuned by changing the thickness of the deposited indium spacer. During sample preparation, a sealed liquid cell can maintain liquids for several days with no leakage. The small amount of liquid can be examined for several hours under the electron beam, which allows the study of an extended chemical reaction in real time.
So far, we have visualized many unique dynamic processes of nanoparticles in liquids, for example, growth and coalescence of Pt nanoparticles5,15, diffusion of nanoparticles in thin liquids20,21, growth fluctuation of Bi nanoparticles14, and growth of Pt3Fe nanorods from nanoparticle building blocks7, etc. In addition, we have also applied this method to other areas, e.g., imaging proteins in liquid water with 2.7 nm resolution8. In summary, our liquid cell TEM technique has been proven to be a very valuable development for the study of a wide range of fundamental issues in materials science, physics, chemistry and biology. We believe there is still large room for future technical advances and applications of the liquid TEM and it will certainly be a high impact on a broad spectrum of scientific research.

<table border="1">
	<tbody>
 	<tr>
 	<td></td>
 <td></td>
 <td></td>
 <td>Reagents</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 	<td>Platinum(II) acetylacetonate</td>
 <td>Aldrich</td>
 <td>523038</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 	<td>Iron(II) acetylacetonate</td>
 <td>Aldrich</td>
 <td>413402</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 	<td>pentadecane</td>
 <td>Aldrich</td>
 <td>P3406</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 	<td>oleylamine</td>
 <td>Aldrich</td>
 <td>O7805</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 	<td>oleic acid</td>
 <td>Sigma</td>
 <td>O4137</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 	<td></td>
 <td></td>
 <td></td>
 <td>Equipment</td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 	<td>TEM</td>
 <td>JEOL</td>
 <td>JEOL 3010</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 <tr>
 	<td>Monochromated TEM</td>
 <td>FEI</td>
 <td>F20 UT Tecnai</td>
 <td></td>
 </tr>
 </tbody>
</table>

revealing dynamic processes of materials in liquids using liquid cell transmission electron microscopy

The recent development for in situ transmission electron microscopy, which allows imaging through liquids with high spatial resolution, has attracted significant interests across the research fields of materials science, physics, chemistry and biology. The key enabling technology is a liquid cell. We fabricate liquid cells with thin viewing windows through a sequential microfabrication process, including silicon nitride membrane deposition, photolithographic patterning, wafer etching, cell bonding, etc. A liquid cell with the dimensions of a regular TEM grid can fit in any standard TEM sample holder. About 100 nanoliters reaction solution is loaded into the reservoirs and about 30 picoliters liquid is drawn into the viewing windows by capillary force. Subsequently, the cell is sealed and loaded into a microscope for in situ imaging. Inside the TEM, the electron beam goes through the thin liquid layer sandwiched between two silicon nitride membranes. Dynamic processes of nanoparticles in liquids, such as nucleation and growth of nanocrystals, diffusion and assembly of nanoparticles, etc., have been imaged in real time with sub-nanometer resolution. We have also applied this method to other research areas, e.g., imaging proteins in water. Liquid cell TEM is poised to play a major role in revealing dynamic processes of materials in their working environments. It may also bring high impact in the study of biological processes in their native environment.

By using liquid cell TEM method, we have visualized the solution growth of Pt3Fe nanorods from nanoparticle building blocks. Figure 2 shows sequential images depicting the growth trajectory of a Pt3Fe nanorod in different solution conditions. False coloring process using Photoshop was employed to highlight the nanoparticles.
When the solvent mixture of pentadecane and oleylamine (7:3 vol/vol) was used, three distinct stages of growth can be identified (<s...

Watch this Scientific Journal Video about Revealing Dynamic Processes of Materials in Liquids Using Liquid Cell Transmission Electron Microscopy at JoVE.com

Revealing Dynamic Processes of Materials in Liquids Using Liquid Cell Transmission Electron Microscopy

We have developed a self-contained liquid cell, which allows imaging through liquids using a transmission electron microscope. Dynamic processes of nanoparticles in liquids can be revealed in real time with sub-nanometer resolution.

The recent development for in situ transmission electron microscopy, which allows imaging through liquids with high spatial resolution, has attracted ...

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