Investigating materials formation with liquid-phase and cryogenic TEM

The recent advent of liquid-phase transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and advances in cryogenic TEM are transforming our understanding of the physical and chemical mechanisms underlying the formation of materials in synthetic, biological and geochemical systems. These techniques have been applied to study the dynamic processes of nucleation, self-assembly, crystal growth and coarsening for metallic and semiconductor nanoparticles, (bio)minerals, electrochemical systems, macromolecular complexes, and organic and inorganic self-assembling systems. New instrumentation and methodologies that are currently on the horizon promise new opportunities for advancing the science of materials synthesis.