Researchers from Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL) have used Hummingbird liquid cell TEM platform optimized for EDS to capture for the first time the experimental evidence of growth of Ag nanocystals in liquid solution. The researchers used TEM fluid cells to assemble Ag nanoparticles attached to the Pt bar in liquid solution. Using super four-quadrant EDS detector installed in FEI Talos at BNL, they used STEM-EDS mapping to track Ag and Pt distributions in continuous liquid flow, and observed two variation of growth modes depending on the beam interaction and catalytic activity of the Pt. This study can have a huge impact in the control synthesis and growth of many other nanocrystals. The work also advances the opportunity for performing spectroscopic imaging in liquid TEM.

Reference: Huolin Xin et al. Anomalous Growth Rate of Ag Nanocrystals Revealed by in situ STEM. Scientific Reports (2017). Abstract