SBIR Phase I: In-situ Transmission Electron Microscope Microfluidic Specimen Holder with High Accuracy Environmental Monitoring and Control

这个小型企业创新研究第一阶段项目将开发一种具有精确温度和压力测量和控制能力的微流控原位电子显微镜(TEM)样品夹持器。在不断变化的液体和气体环境中，无法以原子分辨率动态成像材料是物理、化学、材料、生物和医学发展的一个重大障碍。我们最近开发了商业上可行的连续流动流体取样器，用于在常压下观察液体和气体环境中材料的相互作用。这些持有者已经通过对纳米级材料相互作用的实时观察和成像，开辟了材料反应研究的新途径。然而，目前用这些系统获得的结果都不能量化或验证，因为在目前的系统中不可能直接在样品处局部测量微流体池中的温度和压力。该项目将通过开发一种新的原位TEM微流体夹持器来解决这个问题，该夹持器在流体单元内包含微型制造的局部温度和压力传感器。这将是一项关键的使能技术，可以在TM内的流体中以高分辨率成像的同时实现现场实验的可能性。该项目的更广泛的影响/商业潜力是一种表征技术的可用性，该技术可以在可量化和精确可控的环境条件下以原子分辨率成像固/液和固/气界面。该产品有可能成为一种高冲击性的原位瞬变电磁保持架产品，因为它在几个科学和工程领域具有广泛的重要应用。它将使生物结构在其受控的自然环境中以纳米分辨率成像，并为生物系统中结构与功能的关系提供新的见解。在材料科学和化学方面，它将为在受控大气条件下纳米结构的生长和合成提供新的见解，这对未来几代电子设备非常重要。最后，它将为研究相关和受控环境条件下的催化作用的研究人员提供新的见解，并对腐蚀的基本过程有新的理解。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project will develop a microfluidic in-situ Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM) specimen holder with accurate temperature and pressure measurement and control abilities. The inability to dynamically image materials at atomic resolutions in changing liquid and gas environments is a significant impediment to the advance of physical, chemical, materials, biological and medical sciences. We have recently developed commercially viable continuous flow fluid sample holders for observations of interactions of materials in both liquid and gas environments at ambient pressures. These holders have already opened up new avenues of research in material reactions through real time observation and imaging of nanoscale material interactions. However, currently none of the results acquired with these systems can be quantified or verified because it is not possible in the current system to directly locally measure temperature and pressure in the microfluidic cell at the sample. This project will solve this problem by developing a new in-situ TEM microfluidic holder that contains microfabricated local temperature and pressure sensors inside the fluid cell. This will be a crucial enabling technique in opening up the possibilities of in-situ experiments while imaging at high resolution in fluids inside the TEM.The broader impact/commercial potential of this project is the availability of a characterization technique that can image solid/liquid and solid/gas interfaces with atomic resolution under quantifiable and accurately controllable environmental conditions. This product has the potential to becoming a high-impact in-situ TEM holder product, because it has a broad range of important applications over several scientific and engineering fields. It will allow biological structures to be imaged at nanometer resolution in their controlled native environment and provide new insight on structure-function relationships in biological systems. In materials science and chemistry it will provide new insight into the growth and synthesis of nanostructures under controlled atmospheric conditions, which is important for future generations of electronic devices. Finally, it will create insights for researchers studying catalysis under relevant and controlled environmental conditions, as well as new understanding of the fundamental processes in corrosion.