High-Angle Annular Dark Field Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy on Carbon-Based Functional Polymer Systems
- 1 April 2009
- journal article
- materials applications
- Published by Oxford University Press (OUP) in Microscopy and Microanalysis
- Vol. 15 (3), 251-258
- https://doi.org/10.1017/s1431927609090278
Abstract
Two purely carbon-based functional polymer systems were investigated by bright-field conventional transmission electron microscopy (CTEM) and high-angle annular dark-field scanning transmission electron microscopy (HAADF-STEM). For a carbon black (CB) filled polymer system, HAADF-STEM provides high contrast between the CB agglomerates and the polymer matrix so that details of the interface organization easily can be revealed and assignment of the CB phase is straightforward. For a second system, the functional polymer blend representing the photoactive layer of a polymer solar cell, details of its nanoscale organization could be observed that were not accessible with CTEM. By varying the camera length in HAADF-STEM imaging, the contrast can be enhanced between crystalline and amorphous compounds due to diffraction contrast so that nanoscale interconnections between domains are identified. In general, due to its incoherent imaging characteristics HAADF-STEM allows for reliable interpretation of the data obtained.Keywords
This publication has 15 references indexed in Scilit:
- Toward High-Performance Polymer Solar Cells: The Importance of Morphology ControlMacromolecules, 2007
- Morphology of polymer/fullerene bulk heterojunction solar cellsJournal of Materials Chemistry, 2005
- Nanoscale Morphology of High-Performance Polymer Solar CellsNano Letters, 2005
- Crystalline Organization of a Methanofullerene as Used for Plastic Solar‐Cell ApplicationsAdvanced Materials, 2004
- Accurate structure determination from image reconstruction in ADF STEMJournal of Microscopy, 1998
- Scanning transmission electron microscopy of biological structuresBiology of the Cell, 1994
- New STEM multisignal imaging modes, made accessible through the evaluation of detection efficienciesUltramicroscopy, 1992
- Unconventional modes for STEM imaging of biological structuresJournal of Ultrastructure Research, 1984
- An introduction to the STEMJournal of Ultrastructure Research, 1984
- A scanning microscope with 5 Å resolutionJournal of Molecular Biology, 1970