PhD Project by Mads Søndergaard Larsen
Project Title: Charges and Potentials in Liquids using Liquid Phase Transmission Electron Microscopy
Group: Molecular Windows
Supervisors: Kristian Speranza Mølhave
Project description
A nanoscopic view inside the major driving forces has long been impossible due to resolution limitations before electron microscopes came to be. However, as new opportunities arose, new problems also arose; vapor pressures exceeding the vacuum in the microscope chamber, beam damage and so forth, disabling the possibility to see inside the liquid at high resolution.
The answer to these problems have been appropriately labeled liquid phase electron microscopy (LPEM). In this technique, the liquid is encapsulated between two ultrathin (<50 nm), electron transparent and non-rigid membranes, enabling to utilize electron microscopy techniques such as transmission electron microscopy (TEM) (hereunder various TEM modes, holography for instance), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), STEM and other optical spectroscopy measurements. Finally, we can map and measure inside nanoscopic systems.
In this Ph.D., we will explore these new opportunities to map and measure potentials and charges inside liquids. We will be utilizing microfabricated electrodes to drive charged species via electroosmosis and electrophoresis, map static nanoparticles and the same microelectrodes via electron holography under various parameters, help to generate the next species of LPEM cells for better resolution and show what capabilities LPEM can provide (catalytic events, polarizable electrodes in electrochemistry, ..). The Ph.D. will be in close collaboration with the Ernest-Ruska Centre in Jülich, Germany, the University College of Berkeley, USA and will also help to benefit the LPEM society.
Group: Molecular Windows
Supervisors: Kristian Speranza Mølhave
Project description
A nanoscopic view inside the major driving forces has long been impossible due to resolution limitations before electron microscopes came to be. However, as new opportunities arose, new problems also arose; vapor pressures exceeding the vacuum in the microscope chamber, beam damage and so forth, disabling the possibility to see inside the liquid at high resolution.
The answer to these problems have been appropriately labeled liquid phase electron microscopy (LPEM). In this technique, the liquid is encapsulated between two ultrathin (<50 nm), electron transparent and non-rigid membranes, enabling to utilize electron microscopy techniques such as transmission electron microscopy (TEM) (hereunder various TEM modes, holography for instance), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), STEM and other optical spectroscopy measurements. Finally, we can map and measure inside nanoscopic systems.
In this Ph.D., we will explore these new opportunities to map and measure potentials and charges inside liquids. We will be utilizing microfabricated electrodes to drive charged species via electroosmosis and electrophoresis, map static nanoparticles and the same microelectrodes via electron holography under various parameters, help to generate the next species of LPEM cells for better resolution and show what capabilities LPEM can provide (catalytic events, polarizable electrodes in electrochemistry, ..). The Ph.D. will be in close collaboration with the Ernest-Ruska Centre in Jülich, Germany, the University College of Berkeley, USA and will also help to benefit the LPEM society.
Contact
Contact
Kristian Speranza Mølhave Professor