LAUSR

Soft materials present a difficult case for characterization in the transmission electron microscope (TEM). Due to the use of high energy electrons, samples degrade rapidly from knock-on damage and radiolysis. Still, the atomic-scale structural and chemical information that can be gained from the TEM are attractive for newly discovered materials with nanoscale crystallinity. Diamondoid carbon nanothreads are one such material, which has been produced by compressing benzene to extremely high pressures in a diamond anvil cell.[1] X-ray diffraction data shows the nanothreads consist of cylindrically-symmetric columns of charge that are packed in a two-dimensional hexagonal lattice.[1] However, pair-distribution function analysis shows that the axial order extends to only 15 nm. Therefore, it is ideal to probe the atomic and chemical structure of diamondoid carbon nanothreads through a battery of low-dose TEM techniques.