Nanohalos: a manifestation of electron channelling in gold nanoparticles

Abstract

We discuss interesting haloing effects observed in experimental images of gold nanoparticles obtained using aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) employing the low-angle annular dark-field (LAADF) imaging mode. The LAADF images contained bright rings of intensity (halos) with a diameter equal to or smaller than the diameter of the nanoparticle, the diameter varying as a function of the defocus of the STEM probe. Numerical simulations reveal that the halos are only present if the nanoparticles are imaged down a zone axis. Since the halos were observed in nearly all experimental images, this suggests that the nanoparticles become oriented along crystal zone axes during imaging.