XEDS STEM Tomography For 3D Chemical Characterization Of Nanoscale Particles

Journal Article · Thu Aug 01 04:00:00 EDT 2013 · Ultramicroscopy, 131:24-32

DOI:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ultramic.2013.03.023· OSTI ID:1090167

Genc, Arda; Kovarik, Libor; Gu, Meng; Cheng, Huikai; Plachinda, Pavel; Pullan, Lee; Freitag, Bert; Wang, Chong M.

We present a tomography technique which couples scanning transmission electron microscopy (STEM) and X-ray energy dispersive spectrometry (XEDS) to resolve 3D distribution of elements in nanoscale materials. STEM imaging when combined with a symmetrically arranged XEDS detector design around the specimen overcomes many of the obstacles in 3D spectroscopic tomography of nanoscale materials and successfully elucidate the 3D chemical information in a large field of view of the TEM sample. We employed this technique to investigate 3D distribution of Nickel (Ni), Manganese (Mn) and Oxygen (O) in Li(NiMn)O2 battery cathode material. For this purpose, 2D elemental maps were acquired for a range of tilt angles and reconstructed to obtain 3D elemental distribution in an isolated Li(NiMnO2) nanoparticle. The results highlight the strength of this technique in 3D chemical analysis of nanoscale materials by successfully resolving Ni, Mn and O elemental distributions in 3D and discovering the new phenomenon of Ni surface segregation in this material. Furthermore, the comparison of simultaneously acquired HAADF STEM and XEDS STEM tomography results show that XEDS STEM tomography provides additional 3D chemical information of the material especially when there is low atomic number (Z) contrast in the material of interest.

• Research Organization: Pacific Northwest National Laboratory (PNNL), Richland, WA (US), Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory (EMSL)
• Sponsoring Organization: USDOE
• DOE Contract Number: AC05-76RL01830
• OSTI ID: 1090167
• Report Number(s): PNNL-SA-94411; 47714
• Journal Information: Ultramicroscopy, 131:24-32, Journal Name: Ultramicroscopy, 131:24-32
• Country of Publication: United States
• Language: English

Related Subjects

Environmental Molecular Sciences Laboratory