In-situ Transmission Electron Microscopy

In-situ electron microscopy techniques are becoming increasingly established to understand fundamental processes during synthesis, processing and application of functional materials at the atomic and nanometer scale. Different stimuli ranging from heating or electrical biasing to mechanical deformation and various liquid and gas environments are used to model selected processes and follow the structural changes with the full range of advanced imaging techniques in the TEM to correlate structure and properties of materials and identify transient states in reactions. This lecture will (a) review the most important imaging techniques in the TEM (BF-/DF-/HRTEM, STEM), analytical techniques (EELS, EDX) and recent developments such as ACOM orientation mapping and other 4D-STEM techniques, (b) discuss electron beam effects in materials, (c) introduce various in-situ thermal, electrical, mechanical, liquid and gas phase setups, and (d) their application to understand processes in (nanostructured) materials. The aim is to provide the student with tools for advanced atomic and nanoscale characterization of materials and processes.