microscopy Articles
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Near field optical microscopy: a brief review
Near Field Optical Microscopy (NSOM) has evolved into a mature member of the family of scanning probe microscopy. In this article, we briefly go over the principle of NSOM, its breakthroughs and setbacks. We will describe some of the most commonly used NSOM modalities and conclude with the recent advances based on optical nanoantennas. We will then highlight the potential of this high–resolution ...
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Advanced microscopy techniques for biological imaging
We show that using phase and polarisation information in optical microscopy can provide new insights into biomolecular processes for biological functional imaging. Quantitative phase imaging is demonstrated in living cells with promising capabilities in terms of cells composition and morphology studies. Polarisation–resolved non–linear optical microscopy is described in tissues and lipid ...
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Ten years of electron microscopy of nanomaterials in St. Andrews
Since the Electron Microscopy Laboratory was established in 2000 in School of Chemistry, University of St. Andrews, a variety of research projects have been successfully performed. Most of the projects focused on nanomaterials, porous materials and energy materials. This research has become one of the most active branches in chemical research at St. Andrews. This paper gives a brief review of the ...
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The Canadian Centre for Electron Microscopy: a national facility for ultrahigh resolution electron microscopy
The Canadian Centre for Electron Microscopy is described and the facilities available to Canadian researchers and international collaborators are presented. The facility offers aberration-corrected transmission electron microscopy instrumentation, conventional transmission electron microscopes, scanning electron microscopes and a suite of sample preparation facilities. The advantages and benefits ...
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Supramolecular chemistry at the liquid/solid interface probed by scanning tunnelling microscopy
The liquid/solid interface provides an ideal environment to investigate self-assembly phenomena, and scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) is one of the preferred methodologies to probe the structure and the properties of physisorbed monolayers on the nanoscale. Physisorbed monolayers are of relevance in areas such as lubrication, patterning of surfaces on the nanoscale, and thin film based ...
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The mechanisms of particle formation in Y-doped ZrO2
The processes of nanopowder formation in ZrO2–3 mol.% Y2O3 system at 350–900°C obtained by co-precipitation using ultrasound (US), microwave (MW) heating and pulse magnetic field (PMF) treatment are considered. The energy estimations are made on the basis of Avrami theory for the crystallisation at 350°C and 400°C. It was stated by X-ray diffraction (XRD) methods that the primary particle size is ...
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Stress effects on solid–state dewetting of nano–thin films
In this paper, we present a brief survey of stress effects on dewetting. For this purpose, i) we develop a simple thermodynamic model to illustrate stress effects; ii) we study stress effects in strained–Silicon–On–Insulator (s–SOI) thin films by means of Low Energy Electron Microscopy, and Atomic Force Microscopy; iii) we discuss some available data. In particular, we show that while for s–SOI ...
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Variable temperature magnetic force microscopy of La2/3Sr1/3MnO3 thin films grown on (LaAlO3)0.3(Sr2AlTaO6)0.7 (LSAT) substrates
The surface magnetic domain patterns of a La2/3Sr1/3MnO3 film grown on a LSAT (001) substrate, where LSAT stands for (LaAlO3)0.3(Sr2AlTaO6)0.7, were observed by magnetic force microscopy (MFM) as a function of the temperature in the 300?360 K range at its remanent state. Magnetic stripe domains showing an up and down magnetic configuration were observed, thus indicating the existence of a small ...
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AFM lithography and fabrication of multifunctional nanostructures with perovskite oxides
Recent progress on atomic force microscopy (AFM) lithography on perovskite oxides, including doped SrTiO3 single crystalline substrates and artificial perovskite manganite films, are reviewed systematically. SrTiO3 is the commercial substrate extensively used for epitaxially growing perovskite oxide films and also a popular film material for fabricating functionalised devices. Perovskite ...
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Towards ferroelectric and multiferroic nanostructures and their characterisation
We summarise here our efforts toward the fabrication and characterisation of ferroelectric and multiferroic films and structures. First, we discuss the challenges related with the fabrication and characterisation of nanostructures of functional complex oxides. In particular, to demonstrate the functionality of our films and especially of our structures, we briefly describe atomic force microscopy ...
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Characterisation of molecular orientation in organic nanomaterials by X-ray Linear Dichroism Microscopy
Soft X-ray spectromicroscopy is emerging as a powerful method for the chemical and structural analysis of nanostructured organic materials. X-ray spectromicroscopy combines the chemical and structural sensitivity of Near Edge X-ray Absorption Fine Structure (NEXAFS) spectroscopy with the high spatial resolution of X-ray microscopy. Linear Dichroism (LD), the anisotropic absorption of linearly ...
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Synthesis of ZnWO4/Ag3PO4 p–n heterojunction photocatalyst and enhanced visible-light photocatalytic applications
The ZnWO4/Ag3PO4 nanocomposites synthesized by simple precipitation processes were characterized by powder X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM) and UV-vis diffuse reflectance spectra. The results indicated that the ZnWO4 nanorods dispersed well on the surface of Ag3PO4 ...
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Nanoscale investigations of switching properties and piezoelectric activity in ferroelectric thin films using piezoresponse force microscopy
With respect to nanoscale ferroelectric thin films research, piezoresponse force microscopy (PFM) for domain imaging and local piezoelectric spectroscopy for switching properties and piezoelectric activity measurements require the control of experimental conditions associated to the experimental set-up. To avoid any misinterpretation of the results, stiffness of the cantilever, or frequency and ...
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Electrospun substituted polyphenylene vinylene nanofibres
Biosensors are a rapidly growing research field, which is being swiftly advanced due to recent advances in nanotechnology. However most of the sensors developed are solution based, which limits their commercial use. Thus, with the view of developing bio–nanosensors based on solid–state photoluminescent nanofibres the electrospinning process was optimised for a novel PPV–derivative composite ...
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Scanning probe recognition microscopy investigation of neural cell prosthetic properties
Scanning probe recognition microscopy (SPRM) with auto-tracking of individual nanofibres is used for investigation of the key nanoscale properties of polyamide a nanofibrillar matrix that promotes more in vivo-like forms and functions for cultured cells. Both unmodified and fibroblast growth factor-2-modified nanofibres are considered. The contributions of nanofibrillar matrix elasticity and ...
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Temperature dependent morphological evolution of Rh nanopyramids
The temperature dependent oxygen–induced nanopyramidal faceting of atomically rough Rh(210) surface has been studied using scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM). Rh(210) surface is annealed in oxygen at temperature ≥550 K, the surface completely covered with nanometre–scale facets. The annealing temperature is found to be one of the responsible factors for the nucleation and growth of faceted ...
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Time-lapse microscopy of streptomyces coelicolor growth and sporulation
Bacteria from the genus Streptomyces are among the most complex of all prokaryotes; not only do they grow as a complex mycelium, they also differentiate to form aerial hyphae before developing further to form spore chains. This developmental heterogeneity of streptomycete microcolonies makes studying the dynamic processes that contribute to growth and development a challenging procedure. As ...
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Room temperature, water-based, microreactor synthesis of gold and silver nanoparticles
Synthesis of gold and silver nanoparticles at room temperature using a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) microreactor has been reported. The reactions have been performed using aqueous metal salt solutions and borohydride reducing agent with tri-sodium citrate as the capping agent. Effect of concentration of reducing agent on the optical properties of the nanoparticles has been investigated. The ...
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Molecular nanoscience and engineering on surfaces
Molecular engineering of low-dimensional materials exploiting controlled self-assembly and positioning of individual atoms or molecules at surfaces opens up new pathways to control matter at the nanoscale. Our research thus focuses on the study of functional molecules and supramolecular architectures on metal substrates. As principal experimental tools we employ low-temperature scanning ...
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Electrical properties of long molecules: single-walled carbon nanotubes and DNA
A fundamental requirement for a molecule to be considered a molecular wire (MW) is the ability to transport electrical charge with a reasonably low resistance. From this point of view, we performed experiments of electrical transport on carbon nanotubes and individual DNA molecules. By using a conductive atomic force microscopy (AFM) tip as a mobile electrode, we can experimentally determine the ...
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