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Multimodal Characterization of Resin Embedded and Sliced Polymer Nanoparticles by Means of Tip-Enhanced Raman
Christiane Höppener1,2, Felix H Schacher3,4, Volker Deckert1,2,5
1Leibniz Institute of Photonic Technologies (IPHT) Jena, Albert-Einsteinstraße 9, 07745, Jena, Germany.
Small (Weinheim an Der Bergstrasse, Germany)
|April 1, 2020
Summary
This study introduces a new method using tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS) to analyze the internal structure of polystyrene nanoparticles (PS NPs). This technique provides detailed chemical and structural insights, overcoming limitations of surface-only analysis.
Area of Science:
- Materials Science
- Nanotechnology
- Analytical Chemistry
Background:
- Characterizing nanoparticle properties for function-property relationships remains challenging.
- Existing analytical techniques often provide incomplete information, lacking simultaneous chemical and structural data at high resolution.
- Tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS) offers high spatial resolution but is typically limited to surface analysis due to poor depth information.
Purpose of the Study:
- To develop and validate a novel approach using TERS for analyzing the internal structure of nanoparticles.
- To overcome the depth limitation of TERS by combining it with resin embedding and microtome slicing.
- To enable differentiation of core and shell regions within nanoparticles and assess mechanical properties.
Main Methods:
- Polystyrene nanoparticles (PS NPs) were embedded in resin and sliced using microtome.
- Tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (TERS) was applied to the sliced nanoparticle cross-sections.
- Complementary analyses were performed using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and force-distance curve based atomic force microscopy (FD-AFM).
Main Results:
- TERS successfully provided unique access to internal morphological features of PS NPs.
- The method allowed differentiation between core and shell regions within the nanoparticles.
- A multimodal approach combining TERS with AFM demonstrated high discrimination between resin and polymer components.
- The study highlights the potential of TERS and AFM for probing mechanical properties and quality control.
Conclusions:
- Resin embedding and microtome slicing enable TERS analysis of nanoparticle interiors, overcoming previous depth limitations.
- This multimodal approach provides comprehensive chemical and structural information for nanoparticle characterization.
- The combined TERS and AFM technique is valuable for quality control, particularly for resin embedding procedures in nanoparticle research.
