Tuesday, 10 April 2012

High-Resolution EM of Colloidal Nanocrystal Growth Using Graphene Liquid Cells Jong Min Yuk1,2,3,*, Jungwon Park2,4,*, Peter Ercius5, Kwanpyo Kim1,2,6, Daniel J. Hellebusch4,Michael F. Crommie1,2,6, Jeong Yong Lee3,†, A. Zettl1,2,6,†, A. Paul Alivisat

Science 6 April 2012: 
Vol. 336 no. 6077 pp. 61-64 
DOI: 10.1126/science.1217654
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High-Resolution EM of Colloidal Nanocrystal Growth Using Graphene Liquid Cells

  1. Jong Min Yuk1,2,3,*, 
  2. Jungwon Park2,4,*, 
  3. Peter Ercius5, 
  4. Kwanpyo Kim1,2,6, 
  5. Daniel J. Hellebusch4,
  6. Michael F. Crommie1,2,6, 
  7. Jeong Yong Lee3,†, 
  8. A. Zettl1,2,6,†, 
  9. A. Paul Alivisatos2,4,†

+Author Affiliations

  1. 1Department of Physics, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
  2. 2Materials Sciences Division, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
  3. 3Department of Materials Science and Engineering, KAIST, Daejeon, 305-701, South Korea.
  4. 4Department of Chemistry, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
  5. 5National Center for Electron Microscopy, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
  6. 6Center of Integrated Nanomechanical Systems, University of California at Berkeley, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA.
  1. ↵†To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: j.y.lee@kaist.ac.kr (J.Y.L.); azettl@berkeley.edu (A.Z.);alivis@berkeley.edu (A.P.A.)

  1. ↵* These authors contributed equally to this work.

ABSTRACT

We introduce a new type of liquid cell for in situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) based on entrapment of a liquid film between layers of graphene. The graphene liquid cell facilitates atomic-level resolution imaging while sustaining the most realistic liquid conditions achievable under electron-beam radiation. We employ this cell to explore the mechanism of colloidal platinum nanocrystal growth. Direct atomic-resolution imaging allows us to visualize critical steps in the process, including site-selective coalescence, structural reshaping after coalescence, and surface faceting.

  • Received for publication 8 December 2011.
  • Accepted for publication 27 February 2012.
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