I have prepared metal carbide nanosheets dispersed in DM. It is in well dispersed state. No evidence for even the diapered particle. However during separation by drying they got agglomerated and second dispersion by ultrasonication in acetone for TEM sample preparation was not effective. So I prepared sample in DMF itself and dried the TEM grid at 50 degree C. But it forms a solvent layer on TEM grid which in turn resulted in TEM grid breakage. I read several papers which reported the beautiful TEM images of nanoparticles prepared in high boiling solvents like DMF. But none of them describes the sample preparation techniques. Can anybody help me to solve this problem?
You may follow advise of Volker AND use carbon film (no formvar) – stable for any solvent.
Hello Mahesh,
preserving the colloidal state of nanoparticle suspensions for electron microscopy analysis is a challange!
Recently, we have investigated the mechanism that lead to drying artifacts and we found a protocol to prevent particle aggrlomeration during TEM sample preparation in water-baesd systems.
These articles may help you to investigate the size, shape and dispersion state of your nanomaterials:
http://www.imaging-git.com/science/electron-and-ion-microscopy/tem-sample-preparation-nanoparticles-suspensions
http://www.nature.com/srep/2015/150512/srep09793/full/srep09793.html
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