Researcher from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, UC Berkeley and the National University of Singapore have used Hummingbird Scientific’s liquid cell TEM holder to study the dynamics of individual AgCl nanoparticle motion in liquids upon illumination. The study was published in the journal Small.
Reversible shape change in AgCl nanoparticles under different e-beam illumination conditions. Image © 2018 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim
In this study they showed that AgCl nanocrystals reshape and split spontaneously in an aqueous solution under electron beam illumination. They also show that each nanocrystal maintains a single crystal rocksalt structure when it splits. The splitting effect is similar to electrified liquid droplets or other reported Coulomb fission phenomena. Using in-situ TEM to understand the behavior of AgCl nanocrystals allows researchers to explore their potential usa as nano-actuators.
Reference: Tian, X., Anand, U., Mirsaidov, U., & Zheng, H. (2018). Spontaneous Reshaping and Splitting of AgCl Nanocrystals under Electron Beam Illumination. Small, 14(48), 1803231. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/abs/10.1002/smll.201803231