Researchers have determined the 3D structure of individual nanoparticles in a solution with near-atomic resolution.
Paul Alivisatos at the University of California, Berkeley, and his colleagues used graphene (sheets of single carbon atoms) to protect a solution containing platinum nanocrystals from the vacuum conditions of a transmission electron microscope. A sensitive detector picked up the electrons passing through the sample and an algorithm used that data to reconstruct the structure of two of the platinum nanocrystals. They found that each particle has a dense central disc of atoms with cone-shape protrusions, but they differed in atomic arrangement on the surface.
Understanding the structure of nanoparticles could lead to insights about their chemical and physical properties, the authors say.
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Nanocrystals seen in solution in 3D. Nature 523, 385 (2015). https://doi.org/10.1038/523385a
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/523385a
