Abstract
Recently, transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and related techniques have brought unique insights to graphene research, demonstrating remarkable flexibility in characterizations ranging from atomic ordering to charge distribution. Such TEM studies have helped advance areas including the understanding of graphene growth and the effects of defects and dopants on the mechanical and electrical properties of graphene. Electron microscopy has proved particularly useful in determining the structure of crystals and grain boundaries across six orders of magnitude—from the shapes, arrangements, and stacking sequences of grains to the atomic arrangements at grain boundaries. Meanwhile, graphene is becoming a promising two-dimensional laboratory bench for electron microscopy, for example, turning graphene into a medium for nanosculpting by transforming buckyballs into graphene and vice versa. Finally, graphene has been used as an ultrathin support membrane for TEM, enabling studies of the motion of single atoms, direct imaging of two-dimensional amorphous materials, and even formation of nano-aquaria for imaging bacteria or nanoparticles in liquid media. Rapid developments in the fields of both electron microscopy and graphene will continue to provide a rich ground for future insights.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
H. Fernandez Moran, J. Appl. Phys. 31, 1840 (1960).
B.V. Johansen, Micron 6, 165 (1975).
T. Mitsuishi, H. Nagasaki, R. Uyeda, Proc. Jpn. Acad. 27, 86 (1951).
H. Hashimoto, R. Uyeda, Acta Crystallogr. 10, 143 (1957).
I.M. Dawson, E.A.C. Follett, Proc. R. Soc. London 253, 390 (1959).
J. Hedley, Nature 188, 44 (1960).
M. Beer, P. Highton, J. Cell Biol. 14, 499 (1962).
Y. Hernandez, V. Nicolosi, M. Lotya, F.M. Blighe, Z. Sun, S. De, I.T. McGovern, B. Holland, M. Byrne, Y.K. Gun’Ko, J.J. Boland, P. Niraj, G. Duesberg, S. Krishnamurthy, R. Goodhue, J. Hutchison, V. Scardaci, A.C. Ferrari, J.N. Coleman, Nat. Nanotechnol. 3, 563 (2008).
J.C. Meyer, Ç.Ö. Girit, M. Crommie, A. Zettl, Appl. Phys. Lett. 92, 123110 (2008).
P.Y. Huang, C.S. Ruiz-Vargas, A.M. van der Zande, W.S. Whitney, M.P. Levendorf, J.W. Kevek, S. Garg, J.S. Alden, C.J. Hustedt, Y. Zhu, J. Park, P.L. McEuen, D.A. Muller, Nature 469, 389 (2011).
R.S. Pantelic, J.W. Suk, C.W. Magnuson, J.C. Meyer, P. Wachsmuth, U. Kaiser, R.S. Ruoff, H. Stahlberg, J. Struct. Biol. 174, 234 (2011).
W. Regan, N. Alem, B. Alemán, B. Geng, Ç. Girit, L. Maserati, F. Wang, M. Crommie, A. Zettl, Appl. Phys. Lett. 96, 113102 (2010).
J.C. Meyer, C. Kisielowski, R. Erni, M.D. Rossell, M.F. Crommie, A. Zettl, Nano Lett. 8, 3582 (2008).
K.W. Urban, Nat. Mater. 8, 260 (2009).
D.A. Muller, Nat. Mater. 8, 263 (2009).
J.C.H. Spence, High-Resolution Electron Microscopy (Oxford University Press, Oxford, UK, 2009).
P. Buseck, J.M. Cowley, L. Eyring, High-Resolution Transmission Electron Microscopy and Associated Techniques (Oxford University Press, New York, 1992).
D.B. Williams, C.B. Carter, Transmission Electron Microscopy: A Textbook for Materials Science (Springer, New York, ed. 2, 2009), vols. 1 – 4.
B.W. Smith, D.E. Luzzi, J. Appl. Phys. 90, 3509 (2001).
J.C. Meyer, F. Eder, S. Kurasch, V. Skakalova, J. Kotakoski, H.J. Park, S. Roth, A. Chuvilin, S. Eyhusen, G. Benner, A.V. Krasheninnikov, U. Kaiser, Phys. Rev. Lett. 108, 196102 (2012).
J. Lahiri, Y. Lin, P. Bozkurt, I.I. Oleynik, M. Batzill, Nat. Nanotechnol. 5, 326 (2010).
K. Nakada, M. Fujita, G. Dresselhaus, M.S. Dresselhaus, Phys. Rev. B 54, 17954 (1996).
F. Banhart, J. Kotakoski, A.V. Krasheninnikov, ACS Nano 5, 26 (2011).
J. Kotakoski, J.C. Meyer, S. Kurasch, D. Santos-Cottin, U. Kaiser, A.V. Krasheninnikov, Phys. Rev. B 83, 245420 (2011).
K. Kim, Z. Lee, W. Regan, C. Kisielowski, M.F. Crommie, A. Zettl, ACS Nano 5, 2142 (2011).
J.H. Warner, M.H. Rummeli, T. Gemming, B. Buchner, G.A. Briggs, Nano Lett. 9, 102 (2009).
H.J. Park, J. Meyer, S. Roth, V. Skákalová, Carbon 48, 1088 (2010).
Ç.Ö. Girit, J.C. Meyer, R. Erni, M.D. Rossell, C. Kisielowski, L. Yang, C.-H. Park, M.F. Crommie, M.L. Cohen, S.G. Louie, A. Zettl, Science 323, 1705 (2009).
X. Jia, M. Hofmann, V. Meunier, B.G. Sumpter, J. Campos-Delgado, J.M. Romo-Herrera, H. Son, Y.-P. Hsieh, A. Reina, J. Kong, M. Terrones, M.S. Dresselhaus, Science 323, 1701 (2009).
J.Y. Huang, L. Qi, J. Li, Nano Res. 3, 43 (2010).
A. Chuvilin, J.C. Meyer, G. Algara-Siller, U. Kaiser, New J. Phys. 11, 083019 (2009).
O.L. Krivanek, M.F. Chisholm, V. Nicolosi, T.J. Pennycook, G.J. Corbin, N. Dellby, M.F. Murfitt, C.S. Own, Z.S. Szilagyi, M.P. Oxley, S.T. Pantelides, S.J. Pennycook, Nature 464, 571 (2010).
J.C. Meyer, S. Kurasch, H.J. Park, V. Skakalova, D. Künzel, A. Groß, A. Chuvilin, G. Algara-Siller, S. Roth, T. Iwasaki, U. Starke, J.H. Smet, U. Kaiser, Nat. Mater. 10, 209 (2011).
H. Wang, Q. Wang, Y. Cheng, K. Li, Y. Yao, Q. Zhang, C. Dong, P. Wang, U. Schwingenschlögl, W. Yang, X.X. Zhang, Nano Lett. 12, 141 (2012).
K. Suenaga, M. Tencé, C. Mory, C. Colliex, H. Kato, T. Okazaki, H. Shinohara, K. Hirahara, S. Bandow, S. Iijima, Science 290, 2280 (2000).
K. Suenaga, H. Kobayashi, M. Koshino, MRS Bull. 37, 36 (2012).
L. Ci, L. Song, C. Jin, D. Jariwala, D. Wu, Y. Li, A. Srivastava, Z.F. Wang, K. Storr, L. Balicas, F. Liu, P.M. Ajayan, Nat. Mater. 9, 430 (2010).
K.A. Mkhoyan, A.W. Contryman, J. Silcox, D.A. Stewart, G. Eda, C. Mattevi, S. Miller, and M. Chhowalla, Nano Lett. 9, 1058 (2009).
K.-J. Jeon, Z. Lee, E. Pollak, L. Moreschini, A. Bostwick, C.M. Park, R. Mendelsberg, V. Radmilovic, R. Kostecki, T.J. Richardson, E. Rotenberg, ACS Nano 5, 1042 (2011).
R.R. Nair, W. Ren, R. Jalil, I. Riaz, V.G. Kravets, L. Britnell, P. Blake, F. Schedin, A.S. Mayorov, S. Yuan, M.I. Katsnelson, H.-M. Cheng, W. Strupinski, L.G. Bulusheva, A.V. Okotrub, I.V. Grigorieva, A.N. Grigorenko, K.S. Novoselov, A.K. Geim, Small 6, 2877 (2010).
O.V. Yazyev, S.G. Louie, Nat. Mater. 9, 806 (2010).
T. Ohta, A. Bostwick, T. Seyller, K. Horn, E. Rotenberg, Science 313, 951 (2006).
J.M.B. Lopes dos Santos, N.M.R. Peres, A.H. Castro Neto, Phys. Rev. Lett. 99, 256802 (2007).
W. Norimatsu, M. Kusunoki, Phys. Rev. B 81, 161410 (2010).
M.H. Gass, U. Bangert, A.L. Bleloch, P. Wang, R.R. Nair, A.K. Geim, Nat. Nanotechnol. 3, 676 (2008).
F. Nelson, A.C. Diebold, R. Hull, Microsc. Microanal. 16, 194 (2010).
X. Weng, J.A. Robinson, K. Trumbull, R. Cavalero, M.A. Fanton, D.W. Snyder, Appl. Phys. Lett. 97, 201905 (2010).
W. Norimatsu, M. Kusunoki, Chem. Phys. Lett. 468, 52 (2009).
W. Norimatsu, M. Kusunoki, Physica E 42, 691 (2010).
M. Nagase, H. Hibino, H. Kageshima, H. Yamaguchi, Nanotechnology 20, 445704 (2009).
H. Handa, R. Takahashi, S. Abe, K. Imaizumi, E. Saito, M.-H. Jung, S. Ito, H. Fukidome, M. Suemitsu, Jpn. J. Appl. Phys. 50, 04D H02 (2011).
R. Colby, Q. Yu, H. Cao, S.S. Pei, E.A. Stach, Y.P. Chen, Diamond Relat. Mater. 19, 143 (2010).
L. Brown, R. Hovden, P. Huang, M. Wojcik, D.A. Muller, J. Park, Nano Lett. 12, 1609 (2012).
K. Kim, Z. Lee, B.D. Malone, K.T. Chan, B. Alemán, W. Regan, W. Gannett, M.F. Crommie, M.L. Cohen, A. Zettl, Phys. Rev. B 83, 245433 (2011).
J.C. Meyer, A.K. Geim, M.I. Katsnelson, K.S. Novoselov, T.J. Booth, S. Roth, Nature 446, 60 (2007).
Q. Yu, L.A. Jauregui, W. Wu, R. Colby, J. Tian, Z. Su, H. Cao, Z. Liu, D. Pandey, D. Wei, T.F. Chung, P. Peng, N.P. Guisinger, E.A. Stach, J. Bao, S.S. Pei, Y.P. Chen, Nat. Mater. 10, 443 (2011).
A.W. Tsen, L. Brown, M.P. Levendorf, F. Ghahari, P.Y. Huang, R.W. Havener, C.S. Ruiz-Vargas, D.A. Muller, P. Kim, J. Park, Science 336, 1143 (2012).
C.S. Ruiz-Vargas, H. Zhuang, S. Garg, P. Huang, A.M. van der Zande, P.L. McEuen, D.A. Muller, R. Hennig, J. Park, Nano Lett. 11, 2259 (2011).
L.A. Jauregui, H. Cao, W. Wu, Q. Yu, Y. P. Chen, Solid State Commun. 151, 1100 (2011).
X. Li, C.W. Magnuson, A. Venugopal, J. An, J.W. Suk, B. Han, M. Borysiak, W. Cai, A. Velamakanni, Y. Zhu, L. Fu, E.M. Vogel, E. Voelkl, L. Colombo, R.S. Ruoff, Nano Lett. 10, 4328 (2010).
A.W. Robertson, A. Bachmatiuk, Y.A. Wu, F. Schaffel, B. Rellinghaus, B. Buchner, M.H. Rummeli, J.H. Warner, ACS Nano 5, 6610 (2011).
J. Hillier, R.F. Baker, J. Appl. Phys. 15, 663 (1944).
P. Rez, D.A. Muller, Annu. Rev. Mater. Res. 38, 535 (2008).
P.E. Batson, Phys. Rev. B 48, 2608 (1993).
D.A. Muller, L.F. Kourkoutis, M. Murfitt, J.H. Song, H.Y. Hwang, J. Silcox, N. Dellby, O.L. Krivanek, Science 319, 1073 (2008).
C.H. Chen, J. Silcox, Phys. Rev. Lett. 35, 390 (1975).
C.H. Chen, J. Silcox, Phys. Rev. B 20, 3605 (1979).
R. Leapman, P. Fejes, J. Silcox, Phys. Rev. B 28, 2361 (1983).
R. Egerton, M. Whelan, J. Electron Spectrosc. Relat. Phenom. 3, 232 (1974).
T. Eberlein, U. Bangert, R.R. Nair, R. Jones, M. Gass, A.L. Bleloch, K.S. Novoselov, A. Geim, P.R. Briddon, Phys. Rev. B 77, 233406 (2008).
O. Stephan, P.M. Ajayan, C. Colliex, F. Cyrot-Lackmann, E. Sandre, Phys. Rev. B 53, 13824 (1996).
K. Suenaga, M. Koshino, Nature 468, 1088 (2011).
T. Gemming, G. Mobus, M. Exner, F. Ernst, M. Ruhle, J. Microsc. 190, 89 (1998).
B. Deng, L.D. Marks, Acta Crystallogr. A 62, 208 (2006).
L. Zhao, R. He, K.T. Rim, T. Schiros, K.S. Kim, H. Zhou, C. Gutiérrez, S.P. Chockalingam, C.J. Arguello, L. Pálová, D. Nordlund, M.S. Hybertsen, D.R. Reichman, T.F. Heinz, P. Kim, A. Pinczuk, G.W. Flynn, A.N. Pasupathy, Science 333, 999 (2011).
A. Hashimoto, K. Suenaga, A. Gloter, K. Urita, S. Iijima, Nature 430, 870 (2004).
J. Kotakoski, A.V. Krasheninnikov, U. Kaiser, J. C. Meyer, Phys. Rev. Lett. 106, 105505 (2011).
C. Jin, H. Lan, L. Peng, K. Suenaga, S. Iijima, Phys. Rev. Lett. 102, 205501 (2009).
M.D. Fischbein, M. Drndi ć, Appl. Phys. Lett. 93, 113107 (2008).
J.H. Warner, M.H. Rümmeli, L. Ge, T. Gemming, B. Montanari, N.M. Harrison, B. Büchner, G.A. Briggs, Nat. Nanotechnol. 4, 500 (2009).
J.A. Rodriguez-Manzo, O. Cretu, F. Banhart, ACS Nano 4, 3422 (2010).
B. Song, G.F. Schneider, Q. Xu, G. Pandraud, C. Dekker, H. Zandbergen, Nano Lett. 11, 2247 (2011).
A. Chuvilin, U. Kaiser, E. Bichoutskaia, N.A. Besley, A.N. Khlobystov, Nat. Chem. 2, 450 (2010).
A. Chuvilin, E. Bichoutskaia, M.C. Gimenez-Lopez, T.W. Chamberlain, G.A. Rance, N. Kuganathan, J. Biskupek, U. Kaiser, A.N. Khlobystov, Nat. Mater. 10, 687 (2011).
A.V. Krasheninnikov, F. Banhart, Nat. Mater. 6, 723 (2007).
K. Kim, W. Regan, B. Geng, B. Alemán, B.M. Kessler, F. Wang, M.F. Crommie, A. Zettl, Phys. Status Solidi RRL 4, 302 (2010).
J. Huang, F. Ding, B.I. Yakobson, P. Lu, L. Qi, J. Li, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 106, 10103 (2009).
B. Westenfelder, J.C. Meyer, J. Biskupek, G. Algara-Siller, L.G. Lechner, J. Kusterer, U. Kaiser, C.E. Krill III, E. Kohn, F. Scholz, J. Phys. D: Appl. Phys. 44, 055502 (2011).
B. Westenfelder, J.C. Meyer, J. Biskupek, S. Kurasch, F. Scholz, C.E. Krill III, U. Kaiser, Nano Lett. 11, 5123 (2011).
P.Y. Huang, S. Kurasch, A. Srivastava, V. Skakalova, J. Kotakoski, A.V. Krasheninnikov, R. Hovden, Q. Mao, J.C. Meyer, J. Smet, D.A. Muller, U. Kaiser, Nano Lett. 12, 1081 (2012).
J.M. Lebeau, S. Findlay, L. Allen, S. Stemmer, Phys. Rev. Lett. 100, 206101 (2008).
J.M. Lebeau, S.D. Findlay, L.J. Allen, S. Stemmer, Nano Lett. 10, 4405 (2010).
W. Dobelle, M. Beer, J. Cell Biol. 39, 733 (1968).
S. Iijima, Micron (1969–1983) 8, 41 (1977).
N. Mohanty, M. Fahrenholtz, A. Nagaraja, D. Boyle, V. Berry, Nano Lett. 11, 1270 (2011).
R.S. Pantelic, J.C. Meyer, U. Kaiser, H. Stahlberg, Solid State Commun. (2012).
J.M. Yuk, J. Park, P. Ercius, K. Kim, D.J. Hellebusch, M.F. Crommie, J.Y. Lee, A. Zettl, A.P. Alivisatos, Science 336, 61 (2012).
R.S. Pantelic, J.W. Suk, Y. Hao, R.S. Ruoff, H. Stahlberg, Nano Lett. 11, 4319 (2011).
A. Cerf, T. Alava, R.A. Barton, H.G. Craighead, Nano Lett. 11, 4232 (2011).
R.R. Nair, P. Blake, J.R. Blake, R. Zan, S. Anissimova, U. Bangert, A.P. Golovanov, S.V. Morozov, A.K. Geim, K.S. Novoselov, T. Latychevskaia, Appl. Phys. Lett. 97, 153102 (2010).
Z. Lee, K.J. Jeon, A. Dato, R. Erni, T.J. Richardson, M. Frenklach, V. Radmilovic, Nano Lett. 9, 3365 (2009).
J.C. Meyer, Ç.Ö. Girit, Crommie, M., A. Zettl, Nature 454, 319 (2008).
F. Schaeffel, M. Wilson, J.H. Warner, ACS Nano 5, 9428 (2011).
O. Cretu, A.V. Krasheninnikov, J.A. Rodríguez-Manzo, L. Sun, R.M. Nieminen, F. Banhart, Phys. Rev. Lett. 105, 196102 (2010).
Y. Gan, L. Sun, F. Banhart, Small 4, 587 (2008).
R. Erni, M.D. Rossell, P. Hartel, Phys. Rev. B 82, 165443 (2010).
R. Zan, U. Bangert, Q. Ramasse, K.S. Novoselov, Nano Lett. 11, 1087 (2011).
J.S. Bunch, S.S. Verbridge, J.S. Alden, A.M. van der Zande, J.M. Parpia, H.G. Craighead, P.L. McEuen, Nano Lett. 8, 2458 (2008).
K.S. Novoselov, D. Jiang, F. Schedin, T.J. Booth, V.V. Khotkevich, S.V. Morozov, A.K. Geim, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. U.S.A. 102, 10451 (2005).
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Huang, P.Y., Meyer, J.C. & Muller, D.A. From atoms to grains: Transmission electron microscopy of graphene. MRS Bulletin 37, 1214–1221 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1557/mrs.2012.183
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1557/mrs.2012.183