Seeing Through Walls at the Nanoscale: Microwave Microscopy of Enclosed Objects and Processes in Liquids

Overview

Journal ACS Nano

Publisher American Chemical Society

Specialty Biotechnology

Date 2016 Feb 12

PMID 26866377

Citations 9

Authors

Alexander Tselev

Jeyavel Velmurugan

Anton V Ievlev

Sergei V Kalinin

Andrei Kolmakov

Affiliations

Soon will be listed here.

Abstract

Noninvasive in situ nanoscale imaging in liquid environments is a current imperative in the analysis of delicate biomedical objects and electrochemical processes at reactive liquid-solid interfaces. Microwaves of a few gigahertz frequencies offer photons with energies of ≈10 μeV, which can affect neither electronic states nor chemical bonds in condensed matter. Here, we describe an implementation of scanning near-field microwave microscopy for imaging in liquids using ultrathin molecular impermeable membranes separating scanning probes from samples enclosed in environmental cells. We imaged a model electroplating reaction as well as individual live cells. Through a side-by-side comparison of the microwave imaging with scanning electron microscopy, we demonstrate the advantage of microwaves for artifact-free imaging.

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