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Updated: Oct 3, 2025
Preparation of Graphene-Supported Microwell Liquid Cells for In Situ Transmission Electron Microscopy
Published on: July 15, 2019
In Situ Observation of the Early Stages of Rapid Solid-Liquid Reaction in Closed Liquid Cell TEM Using Graphene
Hyun Woo Cha1, Byeong-Seon An1, Cheol-Woong Yang1
1School of Advanced Materials Science & Engineering, Sungkyunkwan University, Suwon, Gyeonggi-do16419, Korea.
Abstract:
In situ liquid cell transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is a very useful tool for investigating dynamic solid–liquid reactions. However, there are challenges to observe the early stages of spontaneous solid–liquid reactions using a closed-type liquid cell system, the most popular and simple liquid cell system. We propose a graphene encapsulation method to overcome this limitation of closed-type liquid cell TEM. The solid and liquid are separated using graphene to suspend the reaction until the graphene layer is destroyed. Graphene can be decomposed by the high-energy electron beam used in TEM, allowing the reaction to proceed. Fast dissolution of graphene-capped copper nanoparticles in an FeCl3 solution was demonstrated via in situ liquid cell TEM at 300 kV using a cell with closed-type SiNx windows.
