Cryogenic electron tomography to determine thermodynamic quantities for nanoparticle dispersions
| Autor: | Łukasz Richter, Antonia Neels, Neda Iranpour Anaraki, Xufeng Xu, Seishi Shimizu, Quy Khac Ong, Francesca Olgiati, Ting Mao, Francesco Stellacci, Anna Murello, Davide Demurtas, Carla Malinverni, Paulo Jacob Silva |
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| Rok vydání: | 2021 |
| Předmět: |
Electron Microscope Tomography
Materials science Nanoparticle Metal Nanoparticles 02 engineering and technology 010402 general chemistry 01 natural sciences Molecular physics Position (vector) General Materials Science Electrical and Electronic Engineering Potential of mean force Process Chemistry and Technology Pair distribution function 021001 nanoscience & nanotechnology 0104 chemical sciences Chemistry Electron tomography Virial coefficient Mechanics of Materials Solvents Thermodynamics Gold 0210 nano-technology Structure factor Dispersion (chemistry) |
| Zdroj: | Materials Horizons |
| ISSN: | 2051-6355 |
| Popis: | Here we present a method to extract thermodynamic quantities for nanoparticle dispersions in solvents. The method is based on the study of tomograms obtained from cryogenic electron tomography (cryoET). The approach is demonstrated for gold nanoparticles (diameter < 5 nm). Tomograms are reconstructed from tilt-series 2D images. Once the three-dimensional (3D) coordinates for the centres of mass of all of the particles in the sample are determined, we calculate the pair distribution function g(r) and the potential of mean force U(r) without any assumption. Importantly, we show that further quantitative information from 3D tomograms is readily available as the spatial fluctuation in the particles’ position can be efficiently determined. This in turn allows for the prompt derivation of the Kirkwood–Buff integrals with all their associated quantities such as the second virial coefficient. Finally, the structure factor and the agglomeration states of the particles are evaluated directly. These thermodynamic quantities provide key insights into the dispersion properties of the particles. The method works well both for dispersed systems containing isolated particles and for systems with varying degrees of agglomerations. Nanoparticle dispersions were studied by cryogenic electron tomography, which was found to allow extraction of key thermodynamic quantities. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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