Part 1 Flashcards
What does TEM stand for
Transmission electron microscopy
How does TEM work?
A beam of electrons is transmitted through an ultra-thin specimen, interacting with the specimen as it passes. Due to the adsorption of the electrons in the material (due to the thickness and composition of material) TEM contrast is achieved and an image can be created.
What does HRTEM stand for?
High resolution transmission electron microscopy
How does HRTEM work?
Allows the imaging of the crystallographic structure of a sample at an atomic scale. At higher magnifications, contrast arises from the interference in the imagining plane of the electron wave itself.
What is TEM and HRTEM used for?
Imaging of material morphology, size, size distribution and drug delivery application. HRTEM can be used specifically to determine crystal structure, interface between core/shell structure of NPs
What is UV-Vis?
Refers to ultraviolet-visible spectroscopy
What affects the colour of chemicals?
The absorption or reflectance in the visible range directly affects the perceived colour of the chemicals involved.
What is the mechanism of absorption spectroscopy?
Upon striking the sample, photons that match the energy gap of the molecules present are absorbed in order to excite the molecule. Other photons transmit unaffected. . An absorption spectrum can be obtained.
What is fluorescence?
Fluorescence is the emission of light by a substance that has absorbed light (re-emission). It is a form of luminescence.
What is a typical difference between emitted light and absorbed radiation?
Emitted light typically has a longer wavelength and therefore lower energy.
Give the equation for the band gap, knowing the wavelength
E = 1240/gamma
How do you approximate band gap?
from an absorption spectrum (absorbance vs wavelength), you take the onset of absorption from the low energy side (high wavelength). See diagram
What are the limitations of TEM
- HRTEM may be affected by sample thickness and defocus, which can make results difficult to interpret.
- 1 single image is insufficient to infer the complete structure
- High energy used may destroy or damage the structure, or change its properties.
What does SEM stand for?
Scanning Electron Microscopy.
How does SEM work?
Produces images of a sample by scanning it with a focussed beam of electrons.
Electrons interact with atoms in the sample, producing various signals that can be detected.
What information does SEM tell you?
Gives information about the sample’s surface topography and composition.
What is the role of electrons in SEM?
The electrons are scattered and collected by detectors. Electrons that are back scattered from the specimen are collected and form an image.
Electrons do three things:
- pass right through the sample without colliding with any of the sample atoms (atom mostly empty space).
- can collide with specimen electrons, creating showers of secondary electrons.
- Can collide with the nucleus of sample atoms, creating backscattered electrons.
Give advantages for SEM
Since electrons do not need to penetrate the specimen, this can be bulky and opaque.
Give details about secondary electrons
Incident beam is highly energised electrons. When they collide with sample atom electrons, they will knock them out of their orbitals. This is a secondary electron with very weak energy. A single impinging, high energy electron can cause a shower of thousands of low energy secondary electrons.
If these secondary electrons are close enough to the surface they can be collected to form an image.
Give details about backscattered electrons in SEM
when the incident beam collides with the nucleus of the sample atom, it bounces back and retain their high energy.
A sample with a higher density will create more of them so the image can typically discern differences in sample concentration.
Give details about X-ray emission in SEM
Upon emission of secondary electrons, this leaves a “hole” in the shell. To stabilise the atoms, electrons from outer shells will drop into the inner shells. These outer orbitals have a higher energy and therefore X-ray emission occurs.
The X-rays emitted are characteristic in energy and wavelength depending on the sample atom. Therefore, can determine chemical composition.
What is super-resolution microscopy?
Due to the diffraction of light, the resolution of conventional light microscopy is limited to approx. 200 nm.
Super-resolution allows images to be taken with a higher resolution that the diffraction limit.
How does a super-resolution microscope work
Insert answer
Give the generic term for microscopes that can scan sample surfaces with an extremely sharp probe to observe their 3-D structure.
Scanning Probe Microscopy (SPM)