Physics of Nanoscale Systems (ER-C-1) / Microstructure Research (PGI-5)

The properties of new materials for energy conversion and storage are very often linked to their atomic-scale structure. One example are novel fuel cell catalysts. High-resolution analytical in-situ electron microscopy helps us to understand such materials under realistic working conditions.

The first spherical-aberration(Cs) corrected TEM was co-developed and operated at the ER-C. Today this technique defines state-of-the-art electron microscopy and has been commercialized in more than 1000 instruments worldwide.

Magnetic materials are essential for data recording and storage, energy conversion and biomedical technologies. We apply and develop high-resolution quantitative methods to measure the magnetic properties of nanostructures and magnetic phenomena (e.g. domain walls, skyrmions) using various electron microscopy methods.

By employing the negative Cs imaging technique (NCSI) on our PICO electron microscope light elements like oxygen are resolved with high contrast in the heavy element environment. Like this, the improvement of spatial resolution resulted from the Cs/Cc correction can directly be demonstrated by the visibility of 57 pm separation of Y-Y atom columns projected along the [010] axis of a Ce doped YAP single crystal.

The properties of new materials for energy conversion and storage are very often linked to their atomic-scale structure. One example are novel fuel cell catalysts. High-resolution analytical in-situ electron microscopy helps us to understand such materials under realistic working conditions.