Versatile Printing of Substantial Liquid Cells for Efficiently Imaging <i>In Situ</i> Liquid-Phase Dynamics.

Abstract

Through its ability to image liquid-phase dynamics at nano/atomic-scale resolution, liquid-cell electron microscopy is essential for a wide range of applications, including wet-chemical synthesis, catalysis, and nanoparticle tracking, for which involved structural features are critical. However, statistical investigations by usual techniques remain challenging because of the difficulty in fabricating substantial liquid cells with appreciable efficiency. Here, we report a general approach for efficiently printing huge numbers of ready-to-use liquid cells (∼9000) within 30 s by electrospinning, with the unique feature of statistical liquid-phase studies requiring only one experimental time slot. Our solution efficiently resolves a complete transition picture of bubble evolution and also the induced nanoparticle motion. We statistically quantify the effect of the electron dose rate on the bubble variation and conclude that the bubble-driven nanoparticle motion is a ballistic-like behavior insignificant to morphological asymmetries. The versatile approach here is critical for statistical research, offering great opportunities in liquid-phase-associated dynamic studies.