Three-Dimensional Reconstruction of Mesostructured Materials by Electron Microscopy
Abstract: Meso-structured materials have structural characteristics in meso-scale, and mesoporous silica is one of the meso-structured materials. For structural characterization of mesoporous silicas, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) is crucial, since they have two defining structural characteristics, i.e. disorder on the atomic-scale and distinct order on the meso-scale. The following topics are discussed in this article. (i) three-dimensional (3D) structural characterization of mesoporous silicas by electron crystallography. (ii) 3D mesopore structures inside spherical silica nanoparticles and bicontinuous mesostructures characterized by electron tomography, and the combination of electron tomography and HAADF-STEM. (iii) structural characterization of binary nano-colloidal crystals by electron microscopy.
Key words: Meso-structured materials, Mesoporous silica, Electron microscopy, Electron crystallography, Electron tomography