Fast In Situ UHVEM Observation of Crystallization in Amorphous Antimony Nanoparticles by Direct Electron Detection Camera
Abstract: An advantage of fast in situ observation by a direct electron detection camera in materials science researches was confirmed by a research on crystallization process in amorphous antimony nanoparticles. At the early stage of the crystallization in amorphous nanoparticles, small crystalline nucleus on the surface repeats between formation and annihilation. When the nucleus size becomes more than the critical size, the crystal growth takes place in the whole nanoparticle. The growth rate depends on the particle size, and it was shown that the smaller the particle size is, the faster the growth rate is. It was suggested that the crystallization driven by long range elastic interaction energy due to small crystalline nucleus formation in amorphous nanoparticles is induced by short range atomic rearrangements.
Key words: fast in situ observation, amorphous, nanoparticle, crystallization, direct electron detection camera