Journal
MICRON
Volume 116, Issue -, Pages 22-29Publisher
PERGAMON-ELSEVIER SCIENCE LTD
DOI: 10.1016/j.micron.2018.09.009
Keywords
Liquid cell TEM; In situ TEM; Graphene liquid cells; Nanoscale; Liquid dynamics; Solid-liquid-gas interfaces
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Funding
- U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, Materials Sciences and Engineering Division within the insitu TEM program [DE-AC02-05-CH11231, KC22ZH]
- Office of Science, Office of Basic Energy Sciences, of the U.S. Department of Energy [DE-AC02-05CH11231]
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Recent advances in graphene liquid cells for in situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) have opened many opportunities for the study of materials transformations and chemical reactions in liquids with high spatial resolution. However, the behavior of thin liquids encapsulated in a graphene liquid cell has not been fully understood. Here, we report real rime TEM imaging of the nanoscale dynamic behavior of liquids in graphene nanocapillaries. Our observations reveal that the interfaces between liquid and gas bubble can fluctuate, leading to the generation of liquid nanodroplets near the interfaces. Liquid nanodroplets often show irregular shape with dynamic changes of their configuration under the electron beam. We consider that the dynamic motion of liquid-gas interfaces might be introduced by the electrostatic energy from transiently charged interfaces. We find that improving the wettability of graphene liquid cells by ultraviolet-ozone treatment can significantly modify the dynamic motion of the encapsulated liquids. Our study provides valuable information of the interactions between liquid and graphene under the electron beam, and it also offers key insights on the nanoscale fluid dynamics in confined spaces.
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