Chemistry and interactions of silica based particles studied by liquid cell electron microscopy

Abstract

Liquid Phase Electron Microscopy (LPEM) is a rapidly improving technique that utilizes the powerful capabilities of the electron microscope in order to image and investigate liquid-based processes at the nanoscale. However, the presence of the liquid and particles dispersed in the liquid and the high energy electron beam can greatly affect the ongoing processes inside the liquid cell thus the results need to be carefully interpreted. In this thesis, we utilized and developed the LPEM technique to reliably study the chemistry and interactions of silica based colloidal particles which eventually paves the way to study the self-assembly of the colloidal nanoparticles using LPEM technique with a negligible effect of the electron beam.