Nanoscale visualization of metallic electrodeposition in a well-controlled chemical environment

Ningyan Cheng; Hongyu Sun; Anne France Beker; J Tijn van Omme; Emil Svensson; Hamidreza Arandiyan; Hye Ryoung Lee; Binghui Ge; Shibabrata Basak; Rüdiger A Eichel; Yevheniy Pivak; Qiang Xu; H Hugo Pérez Garza; Zongping Shao

doi:10.1088/1361-6528/ac83c7

Nanoscale visualization of metallic electrodeposition in a well-controlled chemical environment

Nanotechnology. 2022 Aug 15;33(44). doi: 10.1088/1361-6528/ac83c7.

Authors

Ningyan Cheng¹, Hongyu Sun², Anne France Beker², J Tijn van Omme², Emil Svensson², Hamidreza Arandiyan³, Hye Ryoung Lee^{4

5}, Binghui Ge¹, Shibabrata Basak^{6

7}, Rüdiger A Eichel^{6

8}, Yevheniy Pivak², Qiang Xu², H Hugo Pérez Garza², Zongping Shao⁹

Affiliations

¹ Information Materials and Intelligent Sensing Laboratory of Anhui Province, Key Laboratory of Structure and Functional Regulation of Hybrid Materials of Ministry of Education, Institutes of Physical Science and Information Technology, Anhui University, Hefei 230601, People's Republic of China.
² DENSsolutions B.V., Informaticalaan 12, 2628 ZD Delft, The Netherlands.
³ Laboratory of Advanced Catalysis for Sustainability, School of Chemistry, The University of Sydney, 2006, Sydney, Australia.
⁴ Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, Stanford, CA 94305, United States of America.
⁵ Stanford Institute for Materials and Energy Sciences, SLAC National Accelerator Laboratory, Menlo Park, California 94025, United States of America.
⁶ Institute of Energy and Climate Research, Fundamental Electrochemistry (IEK-9), Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, D-52425 Jülich, Germany.
⁷ Ernst Ruska-Centre for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons, Forschungszentrum Jülich GmbH, D-52425 Jülich, Germany.
⁸ Institute of Physical Chemistry, RWTH Aachen University, D-52074 Aachen, Germany.
⁹ WA School of Mines: Minerals, Energy, and Chemical Engineering, Curtin University, Perth, WA 6845, Australia.

PMID: 35878519
DOI: 10.1088/1361-6528/ac83c7

Abstract

Liquid phase transmission electron microscopy (TEM) provides a useful means to study a wide range of dynamics in solution with near-atomic spatial resolution and sub-microsecond temporal resolution. However, it is still a challenge to control the chemical environment (such as the flow of liquid, flow rate, and the liquid composition) in a liquid cell, and evaluate its effect on the various dynamic phenomena. In this work, we have systematically demonstrated the flow performance of anin situliquid TEM system, which is based on 'on-chip flow' driven by external pressure pumps. We studied the effects of different chemical environments in the liquid cell as well as the electrochemical potential on the deposition and dissolution behavior of Cu crystals. The results show that uniform Cu deposition can be obtained at a higher liquid flow rate (1.38μl min^-1), while at a lower liquid flow rate (0.1μl min^-1), the growth of Cu dendrites was observed. Dendrite formation could be further promoted byin situaddition of foreign ions, such as phosphates. The generality of this technique was confirmed by studying Zn electrodeposition. Our direct observations not only provide new insights into understanding the nucleation and growth but also give guidelines for the design and synthesis of desired nanostructures for specific applications. Finally, the capability of controlling the chemical environment adds another dimension to the existing liquid phase TEM technique, extending the possibilities to study a wide range of dynamic phenomena in liquid media.

Keywords: chemical environment; electrodeposition; liquid phase transmission electron microscopy; morphology.