US-UK Collaborative Research: High Resolution Electron Microscope Studies of Hydride Compounds

该奖项将支持与纽约州立大学石溪分校的Patrick Herley博士和英国剑桥大学物理化学系的W. Jones博士正在进行的关于氢化物化合物高分辨率电子束研究的合作项目。在最近对轻金属氢化物、硼氢化物和丙酸盐的固态性质的研究中，这些研究人员已经表明，在电子显微镜下，通过束分解可以在原位产生纳米尺寸的金属颗粒。这类颗粒具有相当大的研究价值，因为理论工作表明，随着金属或金属氧化物颗粒尺寸的减小，将产生不寻常的磁性、电子和光学行为。这项研究工作已经产生了直径约为2-5纳米的无氧化物铜和铝微粒的原子分辨率的晶格图像。这种颗粒在电子工业中具有重要的商业价值，如用于制造密度更大的微电路的薄器件触点的表面涂层和糊状物。同样，制备了高质量的、电子透明的碱金属单晶，并利用电子能量损失光谱探测了它们的等离子体谱。在原子水平上理解颗粒大小与诸如晶体完美性和表面电子性质在催化活性上的确切关系的重要性再怎么强调也不为过。该奖项将使Herley博士能够继续与Jones博士进行富有成效的互动，并使用剑桥大学独特的高分辨率电子显微镜设备进行这些研究，他们建议将其扩展到其他重要金属，例如银，锌和镉。

This award will support an ongoing collaborative project on the topic of high resolution electron beam studies of hydride compounds, with Dr. Patrick Herley, State University of New York at Stony Brook and Dr. W. Jones, Physical Chemistry Department, University of Cambridge, England. In recent studies of the solid state properties of light-metal hydrides, borohydrides and alanates, these investigators have shown that nanometer sized metallic particles can be produced in situ in the electron microscope by beam decomposition. Such particles are of considerable research interest because theoretical work indicates that, as the size of a metal or metal oxide particle decreases, unusual magnetic, electronic and optical behavior should result. This research effort has produced lattice images with atomic resolution of oxide-free copper and aluminum microparticles approximately 2-5 nanometers in diameter. Such particles are important commercially in the electronics industry as surface coatings and pastes for use in thin-device contacts in the manufacture of denser microcircuits. Likewise, high quality, electron-transparent single crystals of the alkali metals have been prepared and their plasmon spectra have been probed using electron-energy-loss spectroscopy. The importance of understanding the exact correlation between particle size and such properties as crystal perfection and surface electronic properties at an atomic level on catalytic activity cannot be overemphasized. This award will enable Dr. Herley to continue productive interaction with Dr. Jones and to use the unique High Resolution Electron Microscope facilities at Cambridge for these studies, which they propose to extend to other important metals, for example, silver, zinc and cadmium.