Investigating nanoscale dynamics in light absorbing nanostructures using transmission electron microscopy
Year: 2023
Type: article
Abstract: been integrated into TEM, such as electrical and electrochemical biasing, temperature control via heating/cooling, and exposure to liquids, gases, and light.5 Under the influence of these triggers, material structure and properties evolve on timescales ranging from femtoseconds (10 -15 s; fs) to seconds, or longer (Fig. 1.1).For example, charge transfer upon photoexcitation takes place on ultrafast, fs-to-picosecond (10 -12 s; ps) timescales.7 On the other hand, thermally-induced phase transitions in nanoparticles may take seconds or longer 8-10 technical improvements such as the development of sensitive and fast detectors and the integration of pump-probe techniques have advanced in situ TEM to a degree where time-resolved studies are now possible on a vast range of timescales while maintaining atomic-scale spatial resolution.Compared to time-resolved X-rays 11- 14 , the TEM offers a particularly versatile and relatively cost-effective platform that combines imaging, diffraction, and spectroscopy within a table-top setup that does not require large facilities, such as synchrotrons and free-electron lasers.The latter have the advantage of exceptionally high brightness, relatively low repetition rate, and, as a consequence of the lower absorption crosssections of X-rays, the possibility to routinely work with bulk liquids and solids.The TEM platform, on the other hand, allows the study of dynamics on the level of individual nanoparticles and a range of timescales and enables the discovery of temporal dynamics and size-and shapedependent behavior that is otherwise hidden from conventional, bulk-level studies that involve ensembles of nanoparticles.[15][16][17] This chapter discusses recent key advances in time-resolved TEM and its application to the study of nanoscale dynamics of chemical processes on a broad range of timescales.Examples include phase transitions, energy or charge transfer, nanoparticle restructuring, and nanomechanical motion.We particularly focus on the recently emerged field of ultrafast pumpprobe TEM that enables investigations of photoinduced dynamics with temporal resolution down * This nanoparticle was deemed to be an outlier in its hollowing behavior and excluded from statistical analysis, as discussed in section 2.6.6..
Author: Alcorn IV, Francis Marion
Language: English
Subfield: Structural Biology
Domain: Life Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7220799713