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Updated: Apr 15, 2026

Light-Induced In Situ Transmission Electron Microscopy for Observation of the Liquid-Soft Matter Interaction
Published on: July 26, 2022
A novel experimental approach to investigate radiolysis processes in liquid samples using collimated radiation
Chris Polin1, Nathan Wardlow1, Harold McQuaid1
1Department of Mathematics and Physics, Centre for Plasma Physics, Queen's University Belfast, Belfast, United Kingdom.
Abstract:
Here is detailed a novel and low-cost experimental method for high-throughput automated fluid sample irradiation. The sample is delivered via syringe pump to a nozzle, where it is expressed in the form of a hanging droplet into the path of a beam of ionising radiation. The dose delivery is controlled by an upstream lead shutter, which allows the beam to reach the droplet for a user defined period of time. The droplet is then further expressed after irradiation until it falls into one well of a standard microplate. The entire system is automated and can be operated remotely using software designed in-house, allowing for use in environments deemed unsafe for the user (synchrotron beamlines, for example). Depending on the number of wells in the microplate, several droplets can be irradiated before any human interaction is necessary, and the user may choose up to 10 samples per microplate using an array of identical syringe pumps, the design of which is described here. The nozzles consistently produce droplets of 25.1 ± 0.5 μl.
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