Sample Holder for TEM

• Subject Area: Materials Science
• Term: since 2026
• Project identifier: Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) - Project number 584717733

The development of micro-mechanical-systems (MEMS)-based holders for in situ experiments in the transmission electron microscope (TEM) has opened unprecedented possibilities to study material behavior under external stimuli such as temperature, electrical bias and in the liquid or gas phase. Modern in situ gas, heating and biasing TEM holders provide an integrated platform to observe materials under environmental conditions and we will use the system in the following major research areas: I) Solid-state hydrogen storage materials, II) Exsolution processes in functional oxides, III) Gas phase catalysis and IV) Oxidation processes in high temperature materials. Solid-state hydrogen storage provides a viable route for safe and sustainable storage of hydrogen as an energy carrier. We will use the in situ gas, heating and biasing TEM holder to study the relationship between lattice degrees of freedom and microstructure and observe its evolution to the hydride phase under hydrogen pressure. The application of temperature or electrical bias enables to study hydrogenation processes and the stability of the hydride phase to establish fundamental lattice-microstructure-hydrogenation relationships. We will furthermore use model systems containing tailored defects to investigate the underlying processes of hydride formation down to the atomic scale. Metal-doped functional oxides will serve as a platform to systematically investigate the formation of supported metal catalysts. We will directly observe the associated exsolution processes and analyze the early stages of metal nanoparticle formation. Switching between reducing and oxidative atmospheres at variable temperatures and electrical bias will enable to study their influence on particle formation kinetics and morphology evolution. Oxide-based nanocatalysts and compositionally complex alloy catalysts will be used to observe their evolution in gas phase decomposition of harmful gases to valuable organic compounds. We will focus on analyzing the stability of such catalyst materials in oxidative and reducing environments and explore their behavior under gas decomposition reactions. The in situ gas, heating and biasing TEM holder will also enable us to observe oxidation processes in high temperature alloys. We will investigate the formation of transient oxidation as a function of temperature and explore the oxide stability in dependence of the hydrogen or moisture content. The corresponding phase transformations and elemental redistribution will be probed by electron diffraction, high resolution imaging and spectroscopy to establish a fundamental understanding of oxidation and passivation layer formation.

• DFG Programme: Major Research Instrumentation
• Major Instrumentation: Probenhalter für TEM
• Instrumentation Group: 5140 Hilfsgeräte und Zubehör für Elektronenmikroskope
• Applicant Institution: Ruhr-Universität Bochum
• Leader: Professor Dr. Christian Liebscher