Electron microscopy of polyoxometalate ions on graphene by electrospray ion beam depositionElectronic supplementary information (ESI) available: HRTEM image simulation tableau of PTA molecule, negative ion DINeC mass-spectra of PTA molecule, time-series HRTEM images of PTA molecule, size of molecular aggregate w.r.t landing energy and charge of deposition, HRTEM of molecular aggregate and maximum energy transferred by single electron. See DOI: 10.1039/c8nr00402a

Aberration-corrected high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (AC-HRTEM) has enabled atomically resolved imaging of molecules adsorbed on low-dimensional materials like carbon nanotubes, graphene oxide and few-layer-graphene. However, conventional methods for depositing molecules onto such s...

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Main Authors: Vats, N, Rauschenbach, S, Sigle, W, Sen, S, Abb, S, Portz, A, Dürr, M, Burghard, M, van Aken, P. A, Kern, K
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Aberration-corrected high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (AC-HRTEM) has enabled atomically resolved imaging of molecules adsorbed on low-dimensional materials like carbon nanotubes, graphene oxide and few-layer-graphene. However, conventional methods for depositing molecules onto such supports lack selectivity and specificity. Here, we describe the chemically selective preparation and deposition of molecules-like polyoxometalate (POM) anions [PW 12 O 40 ] 3− using electrospray ion-beam deposition (ES-IBD) along with high-resolution TEM imaging. This approach provides access to sub-monolayer coatings of intact molecules on freestanding graphene, which enables their atomically resolved ex situ characterization by low-voltage AC-HRTEM. The capability to tune the deposition parameters in either soft or reactive landing mode, combined with the well-defined high-vacuum deposition conditions, renders the ES-IBD based method advantageous over alternative methods such as drop-casting. Furthermore, it might be expanded towards depositing and imaging large and nonvolatile molecules with complex structures. We present HRTEM imaging of [PW 12 O 40 ] 3− on graphene after chemically selective deposition by electrospray ion-beam deposition (ES-IBD).
ISSN:2040-3364
2040-3372
DOI:10.1039/c8nr00402a