Reed Wittman, along with a team from Oak Ridge National Labs and the University of Tennessee, published an article titled “In Situ Liquid Electron Microscope Cells Strongly Attenuate Electrochemical Behavior,” which models electrochemical reactions in an in situ electrochemical Scanning Transmission Electron Microscope (STEM). This work was published on November 22, 2024.
In situ transmission electron microscopy (TEM) experiments have been developed over the last 15 years to study various reactions at the nanoscale. This research has applications across a wide range of fields, including battery development, metal deposition and corrosion, and catalyst development. The in situ TEM tool enables researchers to observe fundamental changes in material interfaces, structures, and compositions while reactions occur. However, the confined geometric space of a TEM affects how reactions proceed compared to standard large-scale setups.
In their study, the team modeled the electrochemical behavior of the in situ TEM cell and compared the results to those from “standard” electrochemical setups. They found significant deviations in reaction locations and limiting processes between the two environments. These insights will aid future researchers in correlating the results of in situ electrochemical TEM experiments with real-world applications.
This work was published in the Journal of The Electrochemical Society, the leading electrochemical journal globally, widely read by academics studying fundamental processes and industry professionals addressing applied problems.
For further inquiries, please contact Reed Wittman at rwittm@sandia.gov.
For more information, please visit the publication here.
This research was supported by the U.S. Department of Energy, Office of Electricity (OE), Energy Storage Division.
Sandia National Laboratories is managed and operated by NTESS under DOE NNSA contract DE-NA0003525.