Atomic imaging of phase transitions and morphology transformations in nanocrystals

Marijn A van Huis; Neil P Young; Grégory Pandraud; J Fredrik Creemer; Daniël Vanmaekelbergh; Angus I Kirkland; Henny W Zandbergen

doi:10.1002/adma.200902561

Atomic imaging of phase transitions and morphology transformations in nanocrystals

Adv Mater. 2009 Dec 28;21(48):4992-4995. doi: 10.1002/adma.200902561. Epub 2009 Oct 20.

Authors

Marijn A van Huis¹, Neil P Young², Grégory Pandraud¹, J Fredrik Creemer³, Daniël Vanmaekelbergh⁴, Angus I Kirkland², Henny W Zandbergen¹

Affiliations

¹ Kavli Institute of Nanoscience, Delft University of Technology Lorentzweg 1, 2628 CJ Delft (The Netherlands).
² Department of Materials, University of Oxford Park Road, Oxford OX1 3PH (UK).
³ DIMES-ECTM, Delft University of Technology Feldmannweg 17, 2628 CT Delft (The Netherlands).
⁴ Debye Institute for NanoMaterials Science, Utrecht University Princetonplein 1, 3508 TH Utrecht (The Netherlands).

PMID: 25376645
DOI: 10.1002/adma.200902561

Abstract

A newly developed SiN microhotplate allows specimens to be studied at temperatures up to 1000 K at a resolution of 100 picometer. Aberration-corrected transmission electron microscopy has become a commonplace tool to investigate stable crystals; however, imaging transient nanocrystals is much more demanding. Morphological transformations in gold nanoparticles and layer-by-layer sublimation of PbSe nanocrystals is imaged with atomic resolution.

Keywords: microhotplates; nanocrystals; structural instabilities; sublimation.