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Energy-filtered electron microscopy for imaging core–shell nanostructures

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Abstract

CuAg core–shell nanoparticles are synthesized by ultra-high vacuum thermal evaporation. We show on this system how the Energy-Filtered Transmission Electron Microscopy (EFTEM) technique allows one to improve the characterization by precisely pointing out the formation of core–shell arrangements in bimetallic nanoparticle assemblies. A criterion to measure the shell thickness from EFTEM images on unique core–shell nanoparticles is defined, that can be used for core–shell nanoparticles of any sizes, with shell thicknesses over 1 nm. It is based on the intensity variation along a line drawn across a core–shell nanoparticle on a EFTEM image. This criterion has been validated by a close comparison of the shell thickness measurements performed in this work and the ones obtained by acoustic micro-Raman spectroscopy. Using this criterion, we report a strong correlation between the size of the Cu cores and the formation of the core–shell arrangements in the nanoparticle assembly studied in this work. The influence of the Cu core shape is also evidenced. The characterisation of such systems using High Resolution TEM (HRTEM) is also discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Laboratory for Materials and Quantum Phenomena, University Paris 7, 4 rue Elsa Morante, 75205, Paris, France

    Cyril T. Langlois & Christian Ricolleau

  2. Laboratory for Solid State Physics, ESPCI, 10 rue Vauquelin, 75005, Paris, France

    Cyril T. Langlois & Christian Ricolleau

  3. JEOL Ltd, 1-2 Musashino 3-Chome, Akishima, Tokyo, 196-8558, Japan

    Tetsuo Oikawa

  4. DRFMC-CEA, 38000, Grenoble, France

    Pascale Bayle-Guillemaud

Authors
  1. Cyril T. Langlois
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  2. Tetsuo Oikawa
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  3. Pascale Bayle-Guillemaud
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  4. Christian Ricolleau
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Correspondence to Cyril T. Langlois.

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Langlois, C.T., Oikawa, T., Bayle-Guillemaud, P. et al. Energy-filtered electron microscopy for imaging core–shell nanostructures. J Nanopart Res 10, 997–1007 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-007-9329-0

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11051-007-9329-0

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