Atomic-resolution environmental TEM for quantitative in-situ microscopy in materials science.

We have compiled our recent in-situ quantitative environmental transmission electron microscopy (ETEM) studies on typical gold nanoparticulate catalysts for the low-temperature oxidation of CO to describe the issues surrounding the application of ETEM, with a special regard to catalyst chemistry. Thanks to the recent development of high-resolution environmental transmission electron microscopes that can work robustly to accumulate observation data in controlled environments, we can deal with the electron irradiation effects and heterogeneity of real catalysts. We established a structural evolution diagram that summarizes the structure of catalysts under electron irradiation as a function of the electron current density ϕ and the electron dose, D. By extrapolating to ϕ = 0, D = 0, we could deduce the intrinsic catalysis structure (without electron irradiation) in various environments, including reaction environments. By numerically and statistically analyzing a substantial number of ETEM images of gold nanoparticles, we established a morphology phase diagram that summarizes how the majority of gold nanoparticles change their morphology systematically as a function of the partial pressures of CO and O(2). Similar diagrams will be helpful in elucidating the phenomena that directly correlate with the catalytic activity determined from ETEM observations. Using these quantitative analyses, we could analyze Cs-corrected ETEM images of the catalysts. The surfaces of gold nanoparticles were structurally reconstructed under reaction conditions, via interactions with CO molecules. CO molecules were observed on the surfaces of catalysts under reaction conditions using high-resolution ETEM. Finally, we discuss the potential of environmental transmission electron microscopy for quantitative in-situ microscopy at the atomic scale.