I produced similar Rorschach-test-like images when (long story short) scanning speed of the SEM was not synchronised with the image grabbing software. You can still use it to psychologically evaluate your colleagues :-)
Peace be up on you, your question's readers and all RG members.
SEM image shows geometrical shapes with rough and porous (blue circle) surface with different grain size, the magnification is little bit small so if SEM image has more magnification we con distinguish if this shapes are uniformly repeated or not? SEM image shows that the focused material has some extent of high ordered material, this could be examined by XRD and TEM to fined the preferred orientation and crrystallite size.
AFM is useful to identify the surface roughness and the different heights of grains.
Also it is better if you identify what is your focused material?
Some features were identified i.e zegzage,.... etc, Please see the attached figure. Blue circles represent pores which confirm the porous nature of the produced materials.
You are right, amazing symmetry, and exactly through the center of the image.
I am not aware of any possible optical sources of such artifact. May be a software glitch? Or may be some stitching software was unintentionally employed? In any case image of a some known specimen can help.
Peace be up on you, your question's readers and all RG members.
You mentioned that the crystallite size less than 20 nm, in this case the quantum confinement is released. So the discussion of the obtained data will be concluded in terms of quantum confinement.
Let me repeat: something wrong with your microscope (software?), you have 2 identical (OK, mirrored) images instead of one.
In terms of morphology you see grainy surface. Size of grains is visibly greater than 20 nm. XRD often gives grain size smaller that a real one (well known effect, the Scherrer equation is a pretty rough approximation of a real thing). Do you know thickness of your coating? Anyway, size of grains and the fact that they are fused does not allow to talk about any connection of quantum confinement with surface morphology (i.e. with your picture).
I produced similar Rorschach-test-like images when (long story short) scanning speed of the SEM was not synchronised with the image grabbing software. You can still use it to psychologically evaluate your colleagues :-)
Crystallite size measured by XRD or TEM while SEM measure grains; grains may contain many crystallites, so it is normal to observe the SEM grains have a bigger size. Grains also may be reproducible with certain arrangement so mirror like is observed.
Obviously, the picture contains just two mirror scans of the same area. Just check the parameters of your software. It is possible to estimate the grain size.