posted on 2021-08-25, 07:33authored byZhiwen Liu, Zetan Cao, Jia He, Haoran Zhang, Yujun Ge, Bin Chen
Through its ability to image liquid-phase
dynamics at nano/atomic-scale
resolution, liquid-cell electron microscopy is essential for a wide
range of applications, including wet-chemical synthesis, catalysis,
and nanoparticle tracking, for which involved structural features
are critical. However, statistical investigations by usual techniques
remain challenging because of the difficulty in fabricating substantial
liquid cells with appreciable efficiency. Here, we report a general
approach for efficiently printing huge numbers of ready-to-use liquid
cells (∼9000) within 30 s by electrospinning, with the unique
feature of statistical liquid-phase studies requiring only one experimental
time slot. Our solution efficiently resolves a complete transition
picture of bubble evolution and also the induced nanoparticle motion.
We statistically quantify the effect of the electron dose rate on
the bubble variation and conclude that the bubble-driven nanoparticle
motion is a ballistic-like behavior insignificant to morphological
asymmetries. The versatile approach here is critical for statistical
research, offering great opportunities in liquid-phase-associated
dynamic studies.