Recent Developments in S/TEM Technology Enabling Low-Dose, Low-Temperature, and Low-kV Observation of Beam-Sensitive Energy Materials

Observing materials at atomic resolution gives us insight into how these systems operate and their failure mechanisms. This understanding is required to develop clean energy technology for a sustainable future on earth. In most cases, the key materials of the system under study (e.g., lithium batteries, perovskite solar cells, and MOFs/COFs) are sensitive to moisture, air, and electron beam irradiation, thus making it quite challenging, and in some cases, even impossible to succeed if conventional S/TEM methods are applied.<br/>Using results from various materials, we will review some of these challenges. We will highlight how recent developments at Gatan in specimen holder (cryo-transfer vacuum holder), detection technology (high-speed electron counting direct detectors for imaging, diffraction, and EELS), and software (<i>in-situ</i> and multi-modal data acquisition and processing) enable the observation of such beam-sensitive materials at low dose, low temperature, and low accelerating voltage.