X-Ray Nano-Imaging Applications in Material Designs

Various X-ray and electron microscopy techniques have been used in <i>in situ</i> material property characterizations. The dynamic information of the materials’ transient structures and properties helps to reveal the affecting factors that are crucial in the material designs. Compared to electron techniques, X-ray techniques can be conducted on a larger volume in which the simulated environments can be controlled close to that in their real synthesis/operation conditions.<br/>Transmission X-ray microscopy (TXM) is a full-field X-ray imaging technique that can provide fast and high-throughput chemical-structural measurements over tens of micrometer-sized samples at tens of nanometer resolution. TXM allows tracking samples’ morphological structure and chemical state distribution evolutions in situ over reasonable representative volumes. Such kinds of information are necessary to improve the understanding of the complex interactions between multiple affecting factors in dynamic systems. In this paper, we will present a few examples of crystal growth, nano-porous material fabrication, and battery material synthesis, with TXM as a major characterization tool. The unique dynamic information obtained with TXM at mesoscales helps to reveal the evolution mechanisms in the studied systems that can be used to improve the material designs.