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In the present paper we show an approach of measuring large numbers of nanoparticles in a single scan TKD. TiO2 anatase nanoparticles (NP) of bipyramidal shape were deposited on standard carbon grid used for TEM. The procedure used promoted formation of NP ‘monolayer’ islands with uniform distribution of NPs on the carbon surface which allowed mapping of large number of nanoparticles in the single island.
Collection of whole map covering ~2800 nanoparticles took nearly 20 minutes. Inverse pole figure color coded map indicates that the NPs are either lying on a {101} facet (within 10° range around perfect {101} parallel to the carbon surface orientation) on the carbon film or are lying on a {100} facet (within 10° range around the perfect {100} parallel to the carbon surface orientation). Very unlikely was the NP orientation standing on a {001} face. The NPs size distribution described as equivalent circle diameter (ECD) has been also evaluated and the mean NP ECD was 59 nm with standard deviation of 15 nm, i.e. in good agreement with electron microscopy or AFM results.
This study shows high potential of the technique for crystalline NPs analysis with respect to geometrical orientation of the particles on the substrate. With known orientation, the 3D dimensional characterisation of such non-spherical NPs becomes possible from 2D projection electron micrographs. Moreover, the NP size distribution can be easily extracted. Superior accuracies down to 1-2 nm are achievable. The approach is applicable also on thin lamellae extracted from particulate (or mesoporous) layers.
Electron probe microanalysis (EPMA)is a non-destructive technique which assumes a sample of homogenous (bulk) chemical composition and can, therefore, not be used for thin film samples. However, in combination with one of the possible thin film software packages, STRATAGEM, the thickness as well as the composition of such films on a substrate can be determined.
This has been demonstrated for FeNi on Si and SiGe on Al2O3 film systems. For both systems five samples with different elemental composition and a reference were produced and characterised by the Korean research institute KRISS using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), Rutherford backscattering (RBS), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM).
In 2021, a new and open source thin film evaluation programme called BADGERFILM has been released. It can also be used to determine thin film composition and thickness from intensity ratios of the unknown sample and standards (k-ratios).
In this contribution, we re-evaluated the data acquired for the FeNi and SiGe systems using the BADGERFILM software package and compared the resulting composition and thickness with the results of the established STRATAGEM software and other reference methods. With the current evaluation, the BADGERFILM software shows good agreement with the composition and thickness calculated by STRATAGEM and provided by the KRISS.
These results between two well-known layered material systems analysed with available conventional EMPA approaches (STRATAGEM and direct thickness measurement by TEM) and a new one (BADGERFILM) proves that reliable non-destructive thin film analysis is possible. In this way, we validate the performance of the new software, which is not at all self-explanatory for such
complex quantification algorithms lying behind the final quantified results.
microscopy (AFM), or X-ray reflectometry. For the additional determination of thin film composition, techniques like X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) or mass spectrometry-based techniques can be used. An alternative non-destructive technique is electron probe microanalysis (EPMA). This method assumes a sample of homogenous (bulk) chemical composition, so that it cannot be usually applied to thin film samples. However, in combination with the thin film software StrataGEM, the thickness as well as the composition of such films on a substrate can be determined.
This has been demonstrated for FeNi on Si and SiGe on Al2O3 film systems. For both systems five samples with different elemental composition and a reference were produced and characterised by Korean research institute KRISS using inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry (ICP-MS), Rutherford backscattering (RBS), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). These samples were used for an international round robin test.
In 2021, a new and open-source thin film evaluation programme called BadgerFilm has been released. It can also be used to determine thin film composition and thickness from intensity ratios of the unknown sample and standards (k-ratios).
In this contribution, we re-evaluated the data acquired for the FeNi and SiGe systems using the BadgerFilm software package and compared the resulting composition and thickness with the results of the established StrataGEM software and other reference methods. With the current evaluation, the BadgerFilm software shows good agreement with the composition and thickness calculated by StrataGEM and as the reference values provided by the KRISS.
Morpho-Chemical Characterisation of Me-TiO2 Nanoparticles for Enhanced Photocatalytical Activity
(2022)
The conversion of solar energy into electricity and solar fuels is of crucial importance for a green and sustainable future. Water splitting using semiconductor photo-catalysts is considered a sustainable method to produce clean hydrogen (H2) fuel. Nevertheless, H2 photo-production efficiency remains still low, although extensive research works to understand better the mechanisms of the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction (HER) and the Oxygen Evolution Reaction (OER) are being carried out. In this respect, TiO2 is a key photoactive material, usually employed with a co-catalyst deposited onto the surface to enhance charge carriers’ separation and catalyze surface charge transfer reactions. The deposition of a co-catalyst on the TiO2 nanoparticle surface represents one successful way to enhance the activity of the photocatalyst through a modification of its surface and redox properties. In this context, high-resolution scanning electron microscopy coupled with elemental analysis by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) is fundamental for studying and understanding the effect of the nanoparticle morphology on the functional properties of shape-controlled TiO2 crystals (bipyramides, platelets, and elongated particles). Different types of metal-semiconductor combinations, TiO2 shapes and dopant metals (Ag, Pt, etc) and metal concentrations will be discussed.
Core-shell (CS) particles have been increasingly used for a wide range of applications due to their unique properties by merging individual characteristics of the core and the shell materials. The functionality of the designed particles is strongly influenced by their surface roughness. Quantitative evaluation of the roughness of CS microparticles is, however, a challenging task for Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM).
The SEM images contain two-dimensional (2D) information providing contour roughness data only from the projection of the particle in the horizontal plane. This study presents a practical procedure to achieve more information by tilting the sample holder, hence allowing images of different areas of a single particle to be recorded at different orientations under the same view angle. From the analysis of these images, quasi three-dimensional (3D) information is obtained.
Three types of home-made particles were investigated: i) bare polystyrene (PS) particles, ii) PS particles decorated with a first magnetic iron oxide (Fe3O4) nanoparticle shell forming CS microbeads, iii) PS/Fe3O4 particles closed with a second silica (SiO2) shell forming core-shell-shell (CSS) microbeads. A series images of a single particle were taken with stepwise tilted sample holder up to 10° by an SEM with high-resolution and surface sensitive SE-InLens® mode.
A reliable analysis tool has been developed by a script in Python to analyze SEM images automatically and to evaluate profile roughness quantitatively, for individual core-shell microparticles. Image analysis consists of segmentation of the images, identifying contour and the centre of the particle, and extracting the root mean squared roughness value (RMS-RQ) of the contour profile from the particle projection within a few seconds.
The variation in roughness from batch-to-batch was determined with the purpose to set the method as a routine quality check procedure. Flow cytometry measurements provided complementary data. Measurement uncertainties associated to various particle orientations were also estimated.
Water splitting using semiconductor photo-catalysts is considered a sustainable method to produce clean hydrogen fuel. Nevertheless, H2 photo-production efficiency remains still low, although extensive research works to understand better the mechanisms of the Hydrogen Evolution Reaction (HER) and the Oxygen Evolution Reaction (OER) are being carried out. In this respect, TiO2 is a key photoactive material, usually employed with a co-catalyst deposited onto the surface to enhance charge carriers’ separation and catalyze surface charge transfer reactions. The deposition of a co-catalyst on the TiO2 nanoparticle surface represents one successful way to enhance the activity of the photocatalyst through a modification of its surface and redox properties. In this context, high-resolution scanning electron microscopy (SEM) coupled with elemental analysis by energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS) is fundamental for studying and understanding the effect of the nanoparticle morphology on the functional properties of shape-controlled TiO2 crystals (bipyramides, platelets, and elongated particles). Different types of metal-semiconductor combinations, TiO2 shapes and dopant metals (Ag, Pt, Au, Rh, Pd) and metal concentrations are discussed.
Electron Probe Microanalysis (EPMA) provides a non-destructive approach in the dedicated thin film analysis mode with the commercial StrataGem software. Recently, the open-source programme BadgerFilm by Moy and Fournelle became available. Similarly to StrataGem, it is based on the algorithm of Pouchou and Pichoir and needs intensity ratios of the unknown sample and standards (k-values). We have evaluated the k-values measured for the FeNi and SiGe film systems using the BadgerFilm software package and compared the thickness and composition with the results obtained with the established StrataGem software and other reference methods. The thicknesses of the SiGe films obtained by the BadgerFilm software agree within 20% with the StrataGem and TEM results; the elemental compositions BadgerFilm-StrataGEM agree within 2% with one exception (9%).
A case study on the TEM analysis of the size and shape distribution of TiO2 bipyramidal nanoparticles prepared on TEM grids was included in the recently published ISO standard ISO 21363. It was agreed to organize at a later stage a second inter-lab comparison with the nanoparticles distributed to the participants as a liquid suspension. Protocols for uniform nanoparticle deposition on suited supports developed and optimized within the EMPIR nPSize project are also prepared to be distributed. For this, we have chosen the VAMAS platform (www.vamas.org) which offers an excellent international infrastructure of laboratories with high competence in nanoparticle measurement. The VAMAS technical working area dedicated to nanoparticle measurement is TWA 34 ‘Nanoparticle populations’. For this type of nanoparticles, the size and shape distributions are the primary parameters to be reported. Due to the good deposition protocols developed, an automated image analysis is enabled (in contrast to the manual analysis of irregular TiO2 nanoparticles.
In parallel with the TiO2 nanoparticle exercise, two spherical SiO2 nanoparticle samples with bi-modal size distributions (nominal relative number concentrations of 1:1 and 10:1) are prepared for a second VAMAS inter-lab comparison. Here, the nanoparticle concentration is the primary parameter to be measured. For the imaging methods it is targeted to measure the relative nanoparticle concentrations of the two modes. For the absolute nanoparticle concentration to be measured by imaging methods it is necessary to control the volume of the liquid suspension deposited on the substrate and to obtain such a homogeneous nanoparticle deposition on the substrate which allows to count (or extrapolate) all the deposited particles.
The present study addresses the capability of measurement of relative particle number concentration by scanning electron microscopy for model bimodal silica and gold samples prepared in the frame of the European research project “nPSize - Improved traceability chain of nanoparticle size measurements” as candidate reference nanoparticles.
In this paper one refined approach is applied to determine the exact orientation of bipyramidal TiO2 nanoparticles prepared with good dispersion as almost isolated particles on a carbon TEM grid. The advantages of the recently developed high-throughput Transmission Kikuchi Diffraction (TKD) are used to identify quickly and reliably the geometrical orientation of the crystalline TiO2 nanoparticle bipyramids (anatase) on a statistically relevant number of particles.