New Tool Helps Visualize Nanoscale Chemical Reactions in Liquids

New Tool Helps Visualize Nanoscale Chemical

Reactions in Liquids
Published on May 4, 2016 at 11:07 AM
Written by AZoNano

May 4 2016

An innovative tool developed by UC San Diego chemists

enables researchers to visualize mixing processes or
chemical reactions occurring in liquids at the nanoscale.

By mixing combinations of gold nanoparticles (yellow arrows) with other nanoscale

crystals (blue arrows) in the LCTEM (at left), the chemists showed their technique
works. Images by Lucas Parent, UC San Diego
Traditionally, researchers have been using transmission electron microscopy (TEM) to
view nanoscale structures, but this method can only record static images and requires
the samples to be frozen or dried, and placed inside a vacuum chamber for
visualization. Consequently, researchers were not able to view nanoscale chemical
reactions or living processes, such as the contraction and growth within the living cells
of small fibers, nanoscale protrusions that are critical in the movement and division of
cells, or the changes induced by a chemical process in a liquid.

Being able to look at nanoscale chemical gradients and reactions as

they take place is just such a fundamental tool in biology, chemistry
and all of material science. With this new tool, well be able to look
at the kinetics and dynamics of chemical interactions that weve
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New Tool Helps Visualize Nanoscale Chemical Reactions in Liquids

never been able to see before.

Nathan Gianneschi, Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, UC
San Diego
Gianneschi led the research team, which described this latest development in a paper
published on the Microscopy and Microanalysis journal.

As chemists, we could only really analyze the end products or bulk

solution changes, or image at low resolution because we could
never see events directly occur at the nanoscale.
Nathan Gianneschi, Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, UC
San Diego
However, with new advancements in Liquid Cell TEM (LCTEM), scientists are now
able to record videos of nanoscale objects present in liquids. A drawback of this
method is that it lacks the ability to manage the mixing of solutions, a prerequisite
when viewing and studying the reaction of two chemicals or the effect of a drug on a
living cell.
In order to address this issue, Joseph Patterson, a postdoctoral researcher in
Gianneschi laboratory, in collaboration with researchers at Pacific Northwest National
Laboratory and SCIENION AG in Germany, has developed a tool and a technique
through which researchers can now deposit small amounts of liquid, approximately 50
trillionths of a liter, inside the LCTEMs viewing area.

With this technique, we can view multiple components mixed

together at the nanoscale within liquids, so, for example, one could
look at biological materials and perhaps see how they respond to a
drug. That was never possible before. The benefits to basic
research are huge. We will now be able to directly see the growth at
the nanoscale of all kinds of things, like natural fibers or
microtubules.
Theres a lot of interest on the part of researchers in understanding
how the surfaces of nanoparticles affect chemical reactions or how

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New Tool Helps Visualize Nanoscale Chemical Reactions in Liquids

nanoscale defects on the surfaces of materials develop. We can

finally look at the interfaces on nanostructures so that we can
optimize the development of new kinds of catalysts, paints and
suspensions.
Nathan Gianneschi, Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, UC
San Diego
Although the tool is yet to be used for viewing nanoscale chemical reactions in a liquid,
the UC San Diego team has demonstrated that the method works by mixing a
combination of nanoscale crystals and gold nanoparticles suspended in a solution.

What weve demonstrated is the proof of concept, but thats what

well be doing next.
Nathan Gianneschi, Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, UC
San Diego
While the novel tool will not enable scientists to see molecules in solution, Gianneschi
explained that scientists would be able to view the effect of chemical reactions
occurring on materials that are five billionths of a meter or larger than 5 nm.

We wont be observing molecules colliding, but we will be able to

observe single particles and collections of them, on the nanometer
length scale. Observing these kinds of processes has been one of
the key challenges in the field of nanoscience.
Nathan Gianneschi, Professor of Chemistry and Biochemistry, UC
San Diego
UC San Diego and SCIENION AG have jointly applied for a patent to license the new
tool and technique. Other co-authors of the paper include Lucas Parent of UC San
Diego; James Evans of Pacific Northwest National Laboratory; Holger Eickhoff, Joshua
Cantlon, and Guido Bared of SCIENION AG in Berlin.
The research was funded by grants from the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific
Research and the U.S. Army Research Office.

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