In-situ Observations of Reactions with Environmental Transmission Electron Microscopy

ETEM is a dynamic observation technique based on transmission electron microscopy (TEM). In normal TEMs, specimens are set under vacuum condition because electron scattering by air molecules must be minimized. In contrast, ETEM enables to observe specimens immersed in gas or liquid environments. Therefore, ETEM can reveal nature of materials under the conditions in which they are formed or utilized, for example, catalysts in gas, battery electrodes in liquid electrolyte, and so on. This paper describes principles and features of two types of the ETEM, and also demonstrates effectiveness of this technique by introducing application results on gas reaction of gold nanoparticulate catalyst and high-resolution imaging in liquid environment.