Controlled Nanoscale Mechanical Phenomena Discovered with Ultrafast Electron Microscopy

Copper Tetracyanoquinodimethane: From Micro/Nanostructures to Applications

Copper tetracyanoquinodimethane (CuTCNQ) has been investigated around 40 years as a representative bistable material. Meanwhile, micro/nanostructures of CuTCNQ is considered as the prototype of molecular electronics, which have attracted the world's attention and shown great potential applications in nanoelectronics. In this review, methods for synthesis of CuTCNQ micro/nanostructures are first summarized briefly. Then, the strategies for controlling morphologies and sizes of CuTCNQ micro/nanostructures are highlighted. Afterwards, the devices based on these micro/nanostructures are reviewed. Finally, an outlook of future research directions and challenges in this area is presented.

Mitigating Damage to Hybrid Perovskites Using Pulsed-Beam TEM

Using a pulsed-beam transmission electron microscope, we discover a reduction in damage to methylammonium lead iodide (MAPbI3) as compared to conventional beams delivered at the same dose rates. For rates as low as 0.001 e·Å-2·s-1, we find up to a 17% reduction in damage at a total dose of 10 e·Å-2. We systematically study the effects of number of electrons in each pulse and the duration between pulse arrival. Damage increases for both, though the number of electrons per pulse has a larger effect. A crossover is identified, where a pulsed beam causes more damage than a conventional one. Although qualitatively similar to previous findings, the degree to which damage is reduced in MAPbI3 is less than that observed for other materials (e.g., C36H74), supporting the hypothesis that the effects are material- and damage-mechanism-dependent. Despite this, the observation here of damage reduction for relatively large electron packets (up to 200 electrons per pulse) suggests that MAPbI3 is in fact less susceptible to irradiation than C36H74, which may be related to reported self-healing effects. This work provides insights into damage processes and durability in hybrid perovskites and also illustrates the viability of using pulsed-beam TEM to explore the associated molecular-level routes to degradation, analogous to laser-accelerated energetic pulsed electron beams and the study of damage to biomolecules, cells, and tissues in radiobiology.

Reducing Radiation Damage in Soft Matter with Femtosecond-Timed Single-Electron Packets

Despite the development of a myriad of mitigation methods, radiation damage continues to be a major limiting factor in transmission electron microscopy. Intriguing results have been reported using pulsed-laser driven and chopped electron beams for modulated dose delivery, but the underlying relationships and effects remain unclear. Indeed, delivering precisely timed single-electron packets to the specimen has yet to be systematically explored, and no direct comparisons to conventional methods within a common parameter space have been made. Here, using a model linear saturated hydrocarbon (n-hexatriacontane, C₃₆H₇₄), we show that precisely timed delivery of each electron to the specimen, with a well-defined and uniform time between arrival, leads to a repeatable reduction in damage compared to conventional ultralow-dose methods for the same dose rate and the same accumulated dose. Using a femtosecond pulsed laser to confine the probability of electron emission to a 300 fs temporal window, we find damage to be sensitively dependent on the time between electron arrival (controlled with the laser repetition rate) and on the number of electrons per packet (controlled with the laser-pulse energy). Relative arrival times of 5, 20, and 100 μs were tested for electron packets comprised of, on average, 1, 5, and 20 electrons. In general, damage increased with decreasing time between electrons and, more substantially, with increasing electron number. Further, we find that improvements relative to conventional methods vanish once a threshold number of electrons per packet is reached. The results indicate that precise electron-by-electron dose delivery leads to a repeatable reduction in irreversible structural damage, and the systematic studies indicate this arises from control of the time between sequential electrons arriving within the same damage radius, all else being equal.

Perspective: 4D ultrafast electron microscopy--Evolutions and revolutions

In this Perspective, the evolutionary and revolutionary developments of ultrafast electron imaging are overviewed with focus on the "single-electron concept" for probing methodology. From the first electron microscope of Knoll and Ruska [Z. Phys. 78, 318 (1932)], constructed in the 1930s, to aberration-corrected instruments and on, to four-dimensional ultrafast electron microscopy (4D UEM), the developments over eight decades have transformed humans' scope of visualization. The changes in the length and time scales involved are unimaginable, beginning with the micrometer and second domains, and now reaching the space and time dimensions of atoms in matter. With these advances, it has become possible to follow the elementary structural dynamics as it unfolds in real time and to provide the means for visualizing materials behavior and biological functions. The aim is to understand emergent phenomena in complex systems, and 4D UEM is now central for the visualization of elementary processes involved, as illustrated here with examples from past achievements and future outlook.

Crystal thickness dependence of the photoinduced crystal bending of 1-(5-methyl-2-(4-(p-vinylbenzoyloxymethyl)phenyl)-4-thiazolyl)-2-(5-methyl-2-phenyl-4-thiazolyl)perfluorocyclopentene

Rod-like crystals of 1-(5-methyl-2-(4-(p-vinylbenzoyloxymethyl)phenyl)-4-thiazolyl)-2-(5-methyl-2-phenyl-4-thiazolyl)perfluorocyclopentene with lengths of over 1 mm showed photoreversible bending over 100 cycles upon irradiation with alternating ultraviolet (UV) and visible light. The crystals bent toward the incident light due to a contraction of the crystal length and a gradient of the crystal thickness, which depend on the extent of photoisomerization. It was observed that the bending speed depends on the crystal thickness, and the curvature change on changing the crystal thickness agrees well with Timoshenko's bimetal model, as well as with the observation that crystals of 1,2-bis(2-methyl-5-(4-(1-naphthoyloxymethyl)phenyl)-3-thienyl)perfluorocyclopentene bend away from the incident light due to an expansion of the crystal length and a gradient of the crystal thickness, which depend on the extent of photoisomerization. It was revealed that Timoshenko's bimetal model can be applied to photoinduced crystal bending behaviors caused by both contraction and expansion. These findings are very useful for evaluating and designing photomechanical actuators.

Entropically stabilized dislocations

Dislocations are line defects that play a key role in the plasticity of crystalline materials and affect their thermal, chemical, and electrical properties. Typically dislocations are treated as stable defects; e.g., the equilibrium core structure of a dislocation is obtained by minimizing the crystal potential energy with respect to atom positions. Here we show for the first time the possibility of "entropically stabilized dislocations" that exist due to entropic effects without a corresponding potential energy well. An entropically stabilized dislocation was discovered in an accelerated multiscale quasicontinuum simulation. Its entropic nature was verified with fully atomistic free energy calculations and explained by a simple continuum-based model. This result has important consequences for the study of dislocations as well as for temporal multiscale methods that use information from the potential energy surface to accelerate time in molecular simulations.

Irreversible chemical reactions visualized in space and time with 4D electron microscopy

We report direct visualization of irreversible chemical reactions in space and time with 4D electron microscopy. Specifically, transient structures are imaged following electron transfer in copper-tetracyanoquinodimethane [Cu(TCNQ)] crystals, and the oxidation/reduction process, which is irreversible, is elucidated using the single-shot operation mode of the microscope. We observed the fast, initial structural rearrangement due to Cu(+) reduction and the slower growth of metallic Cu(0) nanocrystals (Ostwald ripening) following initiation of the reaction with a pulse of visible light. The mechanism involves electron transfer from TCNQ anion-radical to Cu(+), morphological changes, and thermally driven growth of discrete Cu(0) nanocrystals embedded in an amorphous carbon skeleton of TCNQ. This in situ visualization of structures during reactions should be extendable to other classes of reactive systems.

Nanofriction visualized in space and time by 4D electron microscopy

In this letter, we report a novel method of visualizing nanoscale friction in space and time using ultrafast electron microscopy (UEM). The methodology is demonstrated for a nanoscale movement of a single crystal beam on a thin amorphous membrane of silicon nitride. The movement results from the elongation of the crystal beam, which is initiated by a laser (clocking) pulse, and we examined two types of beams: those that are free of friction and the others which are fixed on the substrate. From observations of image change with time we are able to decipher the nature of microscopic friction at the solid-solid interface: smooth-sliding and periodic slip-stick friction. At the molecular and nanoscale level, and when a force parallel to the surface (expansion of the beam) is applied, the force of gravity as a (perpendicular) load cannot explain the observed friction. An additional effective load being 6 orders of magnitude larger than that due to gravity is attributed to Coulombic/van der Waals adhesion at the interface. For the case under study, metal-organic crystals, the gravitational force is on the order of piconewtons whereas the static friction force is 0.5 μN and dynamic friction is 0.4 μN; typical beam expansions are 50 nm/nJ for the free beam and 10 nm/nJ for the fixed beam. The method reported here should have applications for other materials, and for elucidating the origin of periodic and chaotic friction and their relevance to the efficacy of nano(micro)-scale devices.

Optomechanical and crystallization phenomena visualized with 4D electron microscopy: interfacial carbon nanotubes on silicon nitride

With ultrafast electron microscopy (UEM), we report observation of the nanoscopic crystallization of amorphous silicon nitride, and the ultrashort optomechanical motion of the crystalline silicon nitride at the interface of an adhering carbon nanotube network. The in situ static crystallization of the silicon nitride occurs only in the presence of an adhering nanotube network, thus indicating their mediating role in reaching temperatures close to 1000 degrees C when exposed to a train of laser pulses. Under such condition, 4D visualization of the optomechanical motion of the specimen was followed by quantifying the change in diffraction contrast of crystalline silicon nitride, to which the nanotube network is bonded. The direction of the motion was established from a tilt series correlating the change in displacement with both the tilt angle and the response time. Correlation of nanoscopic motion with the picosecond atomic-scale dynamics suggests that electronic processes initiated in the nanotubes are responsible for the initial ultrafast optomechanical motion. The time scales accessible to UEM are 12 orders of magnitude shorter than those traditionally used to study the optomechanical motion of carbon nanotube networks, thus allowing for distinctions between the different electronic and thermal mechanisms to be made.

Using two-photon excitation to control bending motions in molecular-crystal nanorods

Molecular-crystal nanorods composed of 9-anthracenecarboxylic acid can undergo reversible bending due to molecular-level geometry changes associated with the photodimerization of the molecules in the crystal lattice. The use of highly focused near-IR femtosecond laser pulses results in two-photon excitation of micrometer-scale regions and is used to induce transient bends at various locations along the length of a single 200-nm-diameter nanorod. Bending can be observed in nanorods with diameters as small as 35 nm, and translational motion of a single nanorod could be induced by sequential bending of longer segments. A kinetic model is presented that quantitatively describes the bending and relaxation dynamics of individual rods. The results of this work show that it is possible to use laser excitation conditions to control the location, rate, and magnitude of photodeformations in these nanorods. The ability to control the motion of these ultrasmall photomechanical structures may be useful for manipulating objects on the nanoscale.

Nanomechanical motions of cantilevers: direct imaging in real space and time with 4D electron microscopy

The function of many nano- and microscale systems is revealed when they are visualized in both space and time. Here, we report our first observation, using four-dimensional (4D) electron microscopy, of the nanomechanical motions of cantilevers. From the observed oscillations of nanometer displacements as a function of time, for free-standing beams, we are able to measure the frequency of modes of motion and determine Young's elastic modulus and the force and energy stored during the optomechanical expansions. The motion of the cantilever is triggered by molecular charge redistribution as the material, single-crystal organic semiconductor, switches from the equilibrium to the expanded structure. For these material structures, the expansion is colossal, typically reaching the micrometer scale, the modulus is 2 GPa, the force is 600 microN, and the energy is 200 pJ. These values translate to a large optomechanical efficiency (minimum of 1% and up to 10% or more) and a pressure of nearly 1,500 atm. We note that the observables here are real material changes in time, in contrast to those based on changes of optical/contrast intensity or diffraction.