The love-hate relationship of electron beam sample interactions in Liquid Phase EM

In this DENSsolutions Stream webinar, we welcome Dr. Joe Patterson, Assistant Professor at University of California Irvine.

Simply enter your email address above and click "Register now" to register. You will receive an email directly after with a link to access the webinar.

Abstract

Liquid Phase Electron Microscopy (LPEM) has already begun to revolutionize our understanding of nanomaterial dynamics by providing real-time direct observations of fundamental processes such as nucleation and growth, morphology evolution and particle-particle interactions. However, there are many challenges to overcome before we can translate our observations into quantitative data that can guide us synthetically. These challenges include the comprehension and control of beam-sample interactions, the effect of confinement within liquid cells and the extraction of data from noisy, low contrast images.

For LPEM, electron-sample interactions are a unique challenge. Firstly, all liquids will undergo some degradation when exposed to an electron beam, even at very low doses. However, due to the high mobility of the system, the energy input from the electron beam can be rapidly dissipated. Therefore, it is now recognized that in LPEM, dose rate is often much more important than the total dose, as the dose rate establishes the steady-state of the energy input/output. Secondly, the sample is inherently dynamic, meaning that changes to the structure with sequential images are not necessarily directly related to the interaction with the electron beam, although the electron beam is likely to have some effect on all dynamic processes.

In his talk, Dr. Patterson will discuss the philosophies and strategies for overcoming or utilizing electron-beam sample interactions, with examples using variable temperature and electrochemical LPEM.

Don't miss out! Register your free spot now.