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Updated: Apr 28, 2026
Using Graphene Liquid Cell Transmission Electron Microscopy to Study in Situ Nanocrystal Etching
Published on: May 17, 2018
In situ study of oxidative etching of palladium nanocrystals by liquid cell electron microscopy
Yingying Jiang1, Guomin Zhu, Fang Lin
1State Key Laboratory of Silicon Materials, Key Laboratory of Advanced Materials and Applications for Batteries of Zhejiang Province, Cyrus Tang Center for Sensor Materials and Applications, and Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Zhejiang University , Hangzhou, Zhejiang 310027, P. R. China.
Abstract:
Oxidative etching has widely prevailed in the synthesis of a crystal and played a critical role in determining the final growth behavior. In this Letter, we report an in situ microscopic study on the oxidative etching of palladium cubic nanocrystals by liquid cell scanning transmission electron microscopy. The etching was realized with oxidative radiation reactants from electron-water interaction in the presence of Br(-) ions. Dissolution dynamics of monodispersed and aggregated nanocrystals were both investigated and compared. Analyses on the dissolution kinetics of nanocrystals and the diffusion kinetics of the dissolved agents were carried out based on the scanning transmission electron microscopy characterizations. The results presented here pave a way toward the quantitative understanding of the oxidative etching reaction and its application in the functionally orientated fabrication of nanocrystals with certain sizes, structures, and morphologies.
