Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: Accurate mapping of nanoscale chemistry in three dimensions (3D) has been a longstanding challenge. Modern electron microscopy provides chemical images by electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) and energy dispersive x-ray spectrometry (EDX) but requires high fluences that damage specimens. In 3D, the requirements are worse; electron tomography demands many high-fluence chemical maps for reconstruction, creating a tradeoff between resolution, accuracy, and sample survival. Fused multimodal electron tomography (MM-ET) alleviates this requirement by leveraging lower-fluence high-angle annular dark-field (HAADF) images alongside a few chemical maps to dramatically improve chemical resolution. Here, experimental and computational parameter space is systematically explored to determine when MM-ET performs best. Ideal imaging conditions balance sample survival with resolution and chemical specificity; we recommend a tilt range of at least ± 70∘, acquiring 40 equally spaced HAADF projections (signal-to-noise > 10), and 7 EELS/EDX maps of each chemistry (signal-to-noise > 4).
Source: npj Computational Materials
Language: English
Subfield: Structural Biology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: gold
Estimated APC paid: $3,490
Awards: G1019100964, G102163711, G107546177, G121915436, G1286251239, G1313983767, G1645119126, G1664757510, G203625172, G2287611682, G2411683797, G244059052, G262962599, G2988778103, G3075337988, G426311843, G4423657506, G498139845, G513797252, G5387317844, G675320460, G6848031779, G6918803902, G7583137537, G807938293, G8269158468, G8286507625, G877335733, G8906985441, G969889393, G993149817
OpenAlex ID: W4413540435