Novel microchip for in situ TEM imaging of living organisms and bio-reactions in aqueous conditions

Abstract

A novel and disposable microchip (K-kit) with SiO(2) nano-membranes was developed and used as a specimen kit for in situ imaging of living organisms in an aqueous condition using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) without equipment modification. This K-kit enabled the successful TEM observation of living Escherichia coli cells and the tellurite reduction process in Klebsiella pneumoniae. The K. pneumoniae and Saccharomyces cerevisiae can stay alive in K-kit after continuous TEM imaging for up to 14 s and 42 s, respectively. Besides, different tellurite reduction profiles in cells grown in aerobic and anaerobic environments can be clearly revealed. These results demonstrate that the K-kit developed in this paper can be useful for observing living organisms and monitoring biological processes in situ.

In situliquid-cell electron microscopy of colloid aggregation and growth dynamics

“…The past few years have seen a flare of efforts to develop devices that allow real-time, in situ imaging of dynamical, nanoscale processes in fluids with the resolution of a TEM or STEM (scanning TEM) [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11][12]. Liquid-cell TEM-STEM devices confine a thin slice of liquid sample in a sealed chamber sandwiched between two electron-transparent membranes, thus preventing evaporation while allowing the electron beam to pass through the sample to produce an image.…”

Observation of Single Colloidal Platinum Nanocrystal Growth Trajectories

“…Recently, Ross et al have developed a liquid cell reactor that can be placed in a special TEM sample holder, which was used to image the dynamic growth of Cu clusters on a surface during electrochemical plating using a TEM with a resolution of 5 nm (24) (also see other related techniques (25,26)). Here, we employ this TEM capability in a newly designed self-contained liquid cell with an improved resolution in the subnanometer range (see the details on the liquid cells in SOM).…”

Advances in sealed liquid cells for in-situ TEM electrochemial investigation of lithium-ion battery

“…This SLC platform sealed the aqueous electrolyte by assembling two silicon chips with thin silicon nitride membranes in a face-to-face configuration. This flip-chip approach allows imaging chemical reactions in liquids with high spatial resolution [34,37,38,41,76] with different membranes of silicon nitride, silicon dioxide, or polymer, such that it has been adopted in various studies, including cell imaging [77][78][79] and nanoparticle synthesis [38] in solutions. For example, electrochemical deposition of polycrystalline Au [76], anisotropic electrodeposition of nickel nanograins [80], and electrochemical growth of single crystal lead dendrites through nucleation, aggregation, alignment, and attachment of randomly oriented small grains [81] were imaged by using electrochemical SLCs.…”