Background
To visualize and understand the interactions between liquids and solids at the microscopic level is crucial for advancements in diverse fields including geochemistry, battery technology, materials science, and pharmaceuticals. Understanding reactive transport at the nanoscale (<10 nm), where transport, sorption, and reaction kinetics diverge from bulk behavior, has long been the fundamental challenge to understanding, designing, and controlling natural and engineered interfaces.
Observing these interactions by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) requires stopping the process to take measurements, leading to inaccuracy and inefficiency, and SEM fails to capture dynamics of fluid-solid interactions.
Technology overview
This invention introduces an operando SEM nano-visualization platform enabling the visualization of real-time, in-situ, high-resolution reactive transport dynamics within 3D nanoporous materials during SEM analysis. This platform leverages an electron-transparent SiN membrane to isolate nanomaterials and fluids from the ultra-high vacuum chamber, allowing for real-time imaging of dynamic fluid-solid interactions.
By enabling the visualization of these interactions in real time, researchers can directly observe the behavior of materials under various pressure and temperature conditions, leading to more effective optimization of materials and processes. The operando SEM platform addresses the limitations of traditional SEM methods, which often fail to capture the dynamic nature of fluid-solid interactions, providing a powerful tool for advancing sustainable technologies and medicine.
Benefits
- This method enables observation of dynamic fluid-solid interactions in real time, providing nanoscale resolution of complex processes.
- The operando platform can be implemented in a wide range of pressures and temperatures, making it relevant to various natural and engineered processes.
Applications
- Electron microscope facilities
- Lithium-ion battery manufacturing
- Biotechnology manufacturing
- Pharmaceutical research
Opportunity
- This novel SEM platform provides a state-of-the-art platform for real-time, high-resolution visualization of fluid-solid interactions, filling a critical gap in current research capabilities.
- US 18/895,633 available for exclusive license (https://patents.google.com/patent/US20250104960A1/en)
Publication
Artur Davletshin and Wen Song “Operando scanning electron microscopy platform for in situ imaging of fluid evolution in nanoporous shale” Lab Chip, 2024, 24, 2920 (2024). DOI: 10.1039/d3lc01066j
