Why do reviewers always ask for TEM images for synthesized materials. For example a material like ZnO or Fe3O4. If the material has been synthesized by a known procedure which already exists in literature and the structure & morphology being already confirmed by XRD and SEM. What is the need of TEM. In a country like India, TEM images are very difficult to obtain. Unless there are some structural defects in the material, which can only conformed by TEM, I dont think TEM is an absolute necessity for writing a good paper. The scientific community must judge the paper based on quality of work, importance of the research and impact of the research on society and scientific domain. I dont believe that just by including a TEM image any paper becomes good. Many reviewers may not even know how to analyze a TEM image.
Crystalline structure within the material is easy to see, identify, and analyze, as are imperfections in the micro, and macro structure.
1. TEM assist us to utilize energetic electrons to provide morphologic, compositional and crystallographic information on any kind of sample;
2. TEM always produce high-resolution, two-dimensional images ;
3. TEM allows for a wide range of educational, science and industry applications;
Dear Ranjit, many thanks for asking this important technical question which is certainly of sgnificant interest to many other RG members too. We work in the field of synthetic inorganic chemistry, which means that we synthesize and characterize new inorganic and organometallic molecular compounds. Full characterization of such compound requires a generally accepted set of analytical and spectroscopic method such as elemental analysis, IR and NMR spectroscopy as well as single-crystal XRD. In the field of materials science and particularly nanomaterials the products are not soluble, so that full characterization must be done by other physical methods (FTIR, XRD, XPS, TEM etc.). As outlined by Mohammad Abdul Kader TEM is particuarly useful when it comes to investigating the morphology and shape of nanoparticles, e.g. to see if they are nanofibers, nanorods, nanostars, nanoballs, nanoflowers and so on.
As a typical example please have a look at the following article which is freely available as public full text on RG:
Synthesis and Characterization of Magnetic Nanosized Fe3O4/MnO2 Composite Particles
Article Synthesis and Characterization of Magnetic Nanosized Fe3O4/M...
In my opinion this paper would loose quality and would be rather incomplete without the TEM images. Personally I also do not agree with your assumption that "Many reviewers may not even know how to analyze a TEM image." This is definitively not true for renowned journals where the reviewers are carefully selected experts.
In any case I wish you good luck with your research! All the best, Frank Edelmann
This means that TEM is essential for your work. The reviewer drew attention to the fact that the absence of these pictures makes your conclusions incomplete / unreasonable ... TEM, of course, is not something obligatory, like any other research method, but in the opinion of the reviewer, the presence of these pictures would improve your articles, only and that's all. Your task is to prove that the methods you use are essential to your work, and their choice is not determined by what is available in your laboratory.
Dear Ranjit, thank you for your kind respose and explanation. I full agree with you when you say that "if the new research is focused only on a new application of the existing material, then what is the need of doing TEM again". I think that it depends on the new applications. Let me try to give you an example. When you take e.g. Fe3O4 nanoparticles and coat them with a layer of another material, then you modify the nanoparticles and you will need TEM images again to verify your findings. In this context please see e.g. the following useful article:
PEI-Coated Fe3O4 Nanoparticles Enable Efficient Delivery of Therapeutic siRNA Targeting REST into Glioblastoma Cells
Article PEI-Coated Fe3O4 Nanoparticles Enable Efficient Delivery of ...
On the other hand, if you prepare previously reported Fe3O4 nanoparticles and use them as catalyst for a reaction in organic chemistry as in the following article, there is absolutely no need to provide any TEM images again.
Magnetite (Fe3O4) Nanoparticles-Catalyzed Sonogashira– Hagihara Reactions in Ethylene Glycol under Ligand-Free Conditions
Article Magnetite (Fe3O4) Nanoparticles‐Catalyzed Sonogashira– Hagih...
Another good example is the following RG link in which CuO nanoparticles are used in a catalyzed synthesis of heterocycles. Again no TEM!
An “on-water” exploration of CuO nanoparticle catalysed synthesis of 2-aminobenzothiazoles
Article ChemInform Abstract: An “On-Water” Exploration of CuO Nanopa...
As you see, it just depends on the applications. You will certainly have plenty of interesting options for doing research e.g. with nanoparticles even without access to TEM. Good luck and best wishes, Frank Edelmann
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