Nature, through evolution, has achieved exquisite control over the nucleation and growth of organic and inorganic materials, creating highly functional, complex and hybrid materials with exceptional properties, such as bones and sea shells. In this process called biomineralization, the pathway of formation is controlled in order to build complex materials in ambient aqueous conditions. If, as chemists, we are ever able to achieve this kind of control over the fabrication of materials it will come from a deep understanding of the pathway-dependent mechanisms involved in the nucleation and growth of hierarchical and hybrid structures. Among researchers in the materials sciences, calls have been made for a change in our trial and error based ‘Edisonian approach’ and to develop and use ‘in situ characterization techniques’ that will improve our understanding to the level where we can truly design complex functional materials form the bottom up using sustainable environmentally friendly methods.
LPEMM address these challenges using Liquid-Phase Electron Microscopy (LP-EM) a technique pioneered at TU/e, in collaboration with DENSsolutions (Delft-NL) and FEI company (Eindhoven-NL). It provides unique insight into nucleation and growth processes in liquids, by the direct real-time observation of nanoscale structure and dynamics in a liquid environment. In a recent review in Science, it was argued that LP-EM can solve the ‘grand challenges in materials science and self-assembly,’ particularly in relation to biomineral formation. LP-EM has already revolutionized our understanding of nanoparticle formation in liquids; however, so far research has mainly focused on simple one or two component systems in simple solvents. In order for LP-EM to contribute to the wider materials science community, we need a platform to analyse the formation of pathway-dependent materials in a series of increasingly complex environments.
LPEMM’s objective are: 1) Develop and optimize LP-EM protocols for imaging magnetite and ferrihydrite (the precursor to magnetite). 2) Determine the effect of reduction, pH, confinement and surface nucleation on the pathway of magnetite formation using LP-EM.
