Journal of Electron Microscopy Advance Access originally published online on June 11, 2009
Journal of Electron Microscopy 2009 58(6):331-339; doi:10.1093/jmicro/dfp028
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Development of an analytical environmental TEM system and its application
1 Material Analysis Department, Toyota Motor Corporation, 1, Toyota-cho, Toyota, Aichi 471-8572
2 Nagoya University, Furo-cho, Chikusa-ku, Nagoya 464-8603
3 Hitachi High-Technology Trading Corporation, 832–2, Horiguchi, Hitachinaka, Ibaraki 312-0034 and
4 Hitachi High-Technologies Corporation, 882, Ichige, Hitachinaka, Ibaraki 312-8504, Japan
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: kishita{at}keisuke.tec.toyota.co.jp
Many automotive materials, such as catalysts and fuel cell materials, undergo significant changes in structure or properties when subjected to temperature change or the addition of a gas. For this reason, in the development of these materials, it is important to study the behavior of the material under controlled temperatures and gaseous atmospheres. Recently, a new environmental transmission electron microscope (TEM) has been developed for observation with a high resolution at high temperatures and under gaseous atmospheres, thus making it possible to analyze reaction processes in details. Also, the new TEM provides a high degree of reproducibility of observation conditions, thus making it possible to compare and validate observation of various specimens under a given set of conditions. Furthermore, easiness of gas condition and temperature control can provide a powerful tool for the studying of the mechanism of material change, such as oxidation and reduction reactions.
Keywords environmental TEM, gas reaction, high temperature, high resolution, oxidation, reduction
Received 16 October 2008, accepted 8 May 2009