Graphene encapsulation enabled high-throughput atom probe tomography of liquid specimens

Qiu, S.; Garg, Vivek; Zhang, Shuo; Chen, Yu; Li, Jian; Taylor, Alex; Marceau, Ross K. W.; Fu, Jianzhong

doi:10.1016/j.ultramic.2020.113036

Cited by 25 publications

(23 citation statements)

References 25 publications

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“…The difference in our experiment is that our entire specimen was made of ice, leading to the conclusion that an electrostatic field must be concentrated at the ice-vacuum interface throughout the experiment. The expected electrostatic field intensity is also much lower in our case, compared to other recent reports where the field is sufficiently high to lead, typically, to the fragmentation of the water molecules (15,55).…”

Section: Field Evaporation Mechanismcontrasting

confidence: 67%

Enabling near-atomic–scale analysis of frozen water

et al. 2020

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Transmission electron microscopy went through a revolution enabling routine cryo-imaging of biological and (bio)chemical systems, in liquid form. Yet, these approaches typically lack advanced analytical capabilities. Here, we used atom probe tomography to analyze frozen liquids in three dimensions with subnanometer resolution. We introduce a specimen preparation strategy using nanoporous gold. We report data on 2- to 3-μm-thick layers of ice formed from both high-purity deuterated water and a solution of 50 mM NaCl in high-purity deuterated water. The analysis of the gold-ice interface reveals a substantial increase in the solute concentrations across the interface. We explore a range of experimental parameters to show that atom probe analyses of bulk aqueous specimens come with their own challenges and discuss physical processes that produce the observed phenomena. Our study demonstrates the viability of using frozen water as a carrier for near-atomic–scale analysis of objects in solution by atom probe tomography.

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Section: Field Evaporation Mechanismcontrasting

confidence: 67%

Enabling near-atomic–scale analysis of frozen water

et al. 2020

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“…The recent efforts around specimen coating using only a few graphene sheets 50,56,57 demonstrates that even very thin conductive layer can achieve the necessary increase in conductivity and sufficient shielding to enable APT analysis. These species may simply neutralise dangling bonds for instance or modify the very local conduction properties, enabling surface conductivity, i.e.…”

Section: Intrinsic Shieldingmentioning

confidence: 99%

Atom probe analysis of electrode materials for Li-ion batteries: challenges and ways forward

et al. 2022

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“…The authors acknowledge funding from the Australian Research Council (DP180103955) and also the contributions from coauthors in [1][2][3]. This work was performed in part at the Melbourne Centre for Nanofabrication (MCN), Victorian Node of the Australian National Fabrication Facility (ANFF).…”

Section: Acknowledgementmentioning

confidence: 99%

Graphene encapsulation enables vitreous ice sample for APT and near-atomic reconstruction of nanoparticle-liquid interface

et al. 2021

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We report an approach based on graphene encapsulation to investigate the structure and chemical composition of liquid samples with APT. The specimens for probing are prepared by encapsulating the solution with a single graphene membrane on top of a W or Si specimen needle tips, with the final diameter maintained at less than 100 nm. The liquid specimens are then transferred to a laser-pulsed atom probe instrument, and frozen by direct loading and contact onto the cryogenically cooled stage. Field evaporation has been proven to be feasible, and the mass-to-charge-state ratio spectrum acquired from APT determines the ion species. The reconstructed 3D chemical maps further reveal the original position of ions within the frozen hydrated sample [1]. This approach allows exploring domains previously unreachable, such as a single protein in solution [2].

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Graphene encapsulation enabled high-throughput atom probe tomography of liquid specimens

Cited by 25 publications

References 25 publications

Enabling near-atomic–scale analysis of frozen water

Enabling near-atomic–scale analysis of frozen water

Atom probe analysis of electrode materials for Li-ion batteries: challenges and ways forward

Graphene encapsulation enables vitreous ice sample for APT and near-atomic reconstruction of nanoparticle-liquid interface

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