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Writing Silica Structures in Liquid with Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy |
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| Authors: | Marcel W. P. van de Put Camille C. M. C. Carcouët Paul H. H. Bomans Heiner Friedrich Niels de Jonge Nico A. J. M. Sommerdijk |
| Affiliation: | 1. Laboratory of Materials and Interface Chemistry and Soft Matter CryoTEM Research Unit, Eindhoven University of Technology, Department of Chemical Engineering and Chemistry, Eindhoven, the Netherlands;2. Innovative Electron Microscopy, INM–Leibniz Institute for New Materials, Saarbrücken, Germany |
| Abstract: | Silica nanoparticles are imaged in solution with scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) using a liquid cell with silicon nitride (SiN) membrane windows. The STEM images reveal that silica structures are deposited in well‐defined patches on the upper SiN membranes upon electron beam irradiation. The thickness of the deposits is linear with the applied electron dose. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) demonstrate that the deposited patches are a result of the merging of the original 20 nm‐diameter nanoparticles, and that the related surface roughness depends on the electron dose rate used. Using this approach, sub‐micrometer scale structures are written on the SiN in liquid by controlling the electron exposure as function of the lateral position. |
| Keywords: | liquid cells STEM patterning silica nanoparticles scanning electron microscopy atomic force microscopy |