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Liu C, Lin O, Pidaparthy S, Ni H, Lyu Z, Zuo JM, Chen Q. 4D-STEM Mapping of Nanocrystal Reaction Dynamics and Heterogeneity in a Graphene Liquid Cell. NANO LETTERS 2024; 24:3890-3897. [PMID: 38526426 DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.3c05015] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/26/2024]
Abstract
Chemical reaction kinetics at the nanoscale are intertwined with heterogeneity in structure and composition. However, mapping such heterogeneity in a liquid environment is extremely challenging. Here we integrate graphene liquid cell (GLC) transmission electron microscopy and four-dimensional scanning transmission electron microscopy to image the etching dynamics of gold nanorods in the reaction media. Critical to our experiment is the small liquid thickness in a GLC that allows the collection of high-quality electron diffraction patterns at low dose conditions. Machine learning-based data-mining of the diffraction patterns maps the three-dimensional nanocrystal orientation, groups spatial domains of various species in the GLC, and identifies newly generated nanocrystallites during reaction, offering a comprehensive understanding on the reaction mechanism inside a nanoenvironment. This work opens opportunities in probing the interplay of structural properties such as phase and strain with solution-phase reaction dynamics, which is important for applications in catalysis, energy storage, and self-assembly.
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Affiliation(s)
- Chang Liu
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Oliver Lin
- Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Saran Pidaparthy
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Haoyang Ni
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Zhiheng Lyu
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Jian-Min Zuo
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
- Materials Research Laboratory, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
| | - Qian Chen
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
- Department of Chemistry, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
- Materials Research Laboratory, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
- Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology, University of Illinois, Urbana, Illinois 61801, United States
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Yang Y, Shao YT, Lu X, Yang Y, Ko HY, DiStasio RA, DiSalvo FJ, Muller DA, Abruña HD. Elucidating Cathodic Corrosion Mechanisms with Operando Electrochemical Transmission Electron Microscopy. J Am Chem Soc 2022; 144:15698-15708. [PMID: 35976815 DOI: 10.1021/jacs.2c05989] [Citation(s) in RCA: 10] [Impact Index Per Article: 5.0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/29/2022]
Abstract
Cathodic corrosion represents an enigmatic electrochemical process in which metallic electrodes corrode under sufficiently reducing potentials. Although discovered by Fritz Haber in the 19th century, only recently has progress been made in beginning to understand the atomistic mechanisms of corroding bulk electrodes. The creation of nanoparticles as the end-product of the corrosion process suggests an additional length scale of complexity. Here, we studied the dynamic evolution of morphology, composition, and crystallographic structural information of nanocrystal corrosion products by analytical and four-dimensional electrochemical liquid-cell scanning transmission electron microscopy (EC-STEM). Our operando/in situ electron microscopy revealed, in real-time, at the nanometer scale, that cathodic corrosion yields significantly higher levels of structural degradation for heterogeneous nanocrystals than bulk electrodes. In particular, the cathodic corrosion of Au nanocubes on bulk Pt electrodes led to the unexpected formation of thermodynamically immiscible Au-Pt alloy nanoparticles. The highly kinetically driven corrosion process is evidenced by the successive anisotropic transition from stable Pt(111) bulk single-crystal surfaces evolving to energetically less-stable (100) and (110) steps. The motifs identified in this microscopy study of cathodic corrosion of nanocrystals are likely to underlie the structural evolution of nanoscale electrocatalysts during many electrochemical reactions under highly reducing potentials, such as CO2 and N2 reduction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Yao Yang
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, United States
| | - Yu-Tsun Shao
- School of Applied and Engineering Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, United States
| | - Xinyao Lu
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, United States
| | - Yan Yang
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, United States
| | - Hsin-Yu Ko
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, United States
| | - Robert A DiStasio
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, United States
| | - Francis J DiSalvo
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, United States
| | - David A Muller
- School of Applied and Engineering Physics, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, United States.,Kavli Institute at Cornell for Nanoscale Science, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, United States
| | - Héctor D Abruña
- Department of Chemistry and Chemical Biology, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York 14853, United States
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Li X, Mitsuishi K, Takeguchi M. Effect of Amorphous Carbon Coating on the Performance of Liquid Phase Transmission Electron Microscopy (LP-TEM) and the Dynamics of Enclosed Pt Nano-Colloids. Microscopy (Oxf) 2022; 71:181-186. [PMID: 35274727 DOI: 10.1093/jmicro/dfac012] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/07/2021] [Revised: 03/06/2022] [Accepted: 03/09/2022] [Indexed: 11/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Ultra-thin silicon nitride (SiN) membranes are critical in microfabrication-based liquid cells (LCs) for transmission electron microscopy. This study used a homemade LC with a 50-nm SiN membrane to study the dynamics of 2.58-nm platinum (Pt) nanoparticles (NPs) in approximately 200-nm deep water. When a strong beam with electron flux ranging from 2.5 × 103 to 1.4 ×106 e-/(nm2·s) was applied to resolve the NPs, the beam caused NP aggregation and even drilled a hole on the top membrane. The hole drilling was prevented by coating a 1-4-nm-thick amorphous carbon layer on both sides of the membrane. The NP aggregation rate also decreased with increasing carbon thickness. After overcoming the aforementioned issues, lattice fringes of the Pt NPs were visible when the NPs were attached to the membrane of the 4-nm-carbon-coated LC containing a thin liquid layer. The effects of the electron beam and carbon on the LC and Pt NPs were investigated and discussed. This work provides a reference for LC-TEM research using strong electron beams.
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Affiliation(s)
- Xiaoguang Li
- Transmission Electron Microscopy Analysis Station, National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), 1-2-1 Sengen, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0047, Japan
| | - Kazutaka Mitsuishi
- Transmission Electron Microscopy Analysis Station, National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), 1-2-1 Sengen, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0047, Japan
| | - Masaki Takeguchi
- Transmission Electron Microscopy Analysis Station, National Institute for Materials Science (NIMS), 1-2-1 Sengen, Tsukuba, Ibaraki 305-0047, Japan
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Subramanian V, Martin DC. In Situ Observations of Nanofibril Nucleation and Growth during the Electrochemical Polymerization of Poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) Using Liquid-Phase Transmission Electron Microscopy. NANO LETTERS 2021; 21:9077-9084. [PMID: 34672611 DOI: 10.1021/acs.nanolett.1c02762] [Citation(s) in RCA: 2] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/13/2023]
Abstract
The electrochemical deposition of poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT) has been carried out previously in the presence of a variety of counterions. Previous studies have shown that elongated nanofibrillar structures of PEDOT would form reproducibly when certain counterions such as poly(acrylic acid) (PAA) were added to the reaction mixture. However, details of the nanofibril nucleation and growth stages were not yet clear. Here, we describe the structural evolution of PEDOT nanofibrils using liquid-phase transmission electron microscopy (LPTEM). We measured the growth velocities of nanofibrils in different directions at various stages of the process and their intensity profiles, and we have estimated the number of EDOT monomers involved. We observed that fibrils initially grew anisotropically in a direction nominally perpendicular to the local edge of the electrodes, with rates that were faster along their lengths as compared those along to their widths and thicknesses. These real-time observations have helped us elucidate the nucleation and growth of PEDOT nanofibrils during electrochemical deposition.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vivek Subramanian
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716, United States
| | - David C Martin
- Department of Materials Science and Engineering, The University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716, United States
- Department of Biomedical Engineering, The University of Delaware, Newark, Delaware 19716, United States
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Beker AF, Sun H, Lemang M, van Omme JT, Spruit RG, Bremmer M, Basak S, Pérez Garza HH. In situ electrochemistry inside a TEM with controlled mass transport. NANOSCALE 2020; 12:22192-22201. [PMID: 33136106 DOI: 10.1039/d0nr04961a] [Citation(s) in RCA: 13] [Impact Index Per Article: 3.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 06/11/2023]
Abstract
The field of electrochemistry promises solutions for the future energy crisis and environmental deterioration by developing optimized batteries, fuel-cells and catalysts. Combined with in situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM), it can reveal functional and structural changes. A drawback of this relatively young field is lack of reproducibility in controlling the liquid environment while retaining the imaging and analytical capabilities. Here, a platform for in situ electrochemical studies inside a TEM with a pressure-driven flow is presented, with the capability to control the flow direction and to ensure the liquid will always pass through the region of interest. As a result, the system offers the opportunity to define the mass transport and control the electric potential, giving access to the full kinetics of the redox reaction. In order to show the benefits of the system, copper dendrites are electrodeposited and show reliable electric potential control. Next, their morphology is changed by tuning the mass transport conditions. Finally, at a liquid thickness of approximately 100 nm, the diffraction pattern revealed the 1,1,1 planes of the copper crystals, indicating an atomic resolution down to 2.15 Å. Such control of the liquid thickness enabled elemental mapping, allowing us to distinguish the spatial distribution of different elements in liquid.
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Affiliation(s)
- Anne France Beker
- DENSsolutions B.V., Informaticalaan 12, 2628 ZD, Delft, The Netherlands.
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Aliyah K, Lyu J, Goldmann C, Bizien T, Hamon C, Alloyeau D, Constantin D. Real-Time In Situ Observations Reveal a Double Role for Ascorbic Acid in the Anisotropic Growth of Silver on Gold. J Phys Chem Lett 2020; 11:2830-2837. [PMID: 32200632 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jpclett.0c00121] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 1.3] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 05/25/2023]
Abstract
Rational nanoparticle design is one of the main goals of materials science, but it can only be achieved via a thorough understanding of the growth process and of the respective roles of the molecular species involved. We demonstrate that a combination of complementary techniques can yield novel information with respect to their individual contributions. We monitored the growth of long aspect ratio silver rods from gold pentatwinned seeds by three in situ techniques (small-angle X-ray scattering, optical extinction spectroscopy and liquid-cell transmission electron microscopy). Exploiting the difference in reaction speed between the bulk synthesis and the nanoparticle formation in the TEM cell, we show that the anisotropic growth is thermodynamically controlled (rather than kinetically) and that ascorbic acid, widely used for its mild reductive properties, plays a shape-directing role, by stabilizing the {100} facets of the silver cubic lattice, in synergy with the halide ions. This approach can easily be applied to a wide variety of synthesis strategies.
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Affiliation(s)
- Kinanti Aliyah
- Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, 91405 Orsay, France
| | - Jieli Lyu
- Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, 91405 Orsay, France
| | - Claire Goldmann
- Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, 91405 Orsay, France
| | - Thomas Bizien
- SWING beamline, SOLEIL Synchrotron, 91192 Gif-sur-Yvette, France
| | - Cyrille Hamon
- Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, 91405 Orsay, France
| | - Damien Alloyeau
- Laboratoire Matériaux et Phénomènes Quantiques, Université de Paris - CNRS, F-75013 Paris, France
| | - Doru Constantin
- Université Paris-Saclay, CNRS, Laboratoire de Physique des Solides, 91405 Orsay, France
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