Single-shot 3D coherent diffractive imaging of core-shell nanoparticles with elemental specificity.
Alan PryorArjun RanaRui XuJosé A RodriguezYongsoo YangMarcus Gallagher-JonesHuaidong JiangKrishan KanhaiyaMichael NathansonJaehyun ParkSunam KimSangsoo KimDaewoong NamYu YueJiadong FanZhibin SunBosheng ZhangDennis F GardnerCarlos Sato Baraldi DiasYasumasa JotiTakaki HatsuiTakashi KameshimaYuichi InubushiKensuke TonoJim Yang LeeMakina YabashiChangyong SongTetsuya IshikawaHenry Cornelius KapteynMargaret M MurnaneHendrik HeinzJianwei MiaoPublished in: Scientific reports (2018)
We report 3D coherent diffractive imaging (CDI) of Au/Pd core-shell nanoparticles with 6.1 nm spatial resolution with elemental specificity. We measured single-shot diffraction patterns of the nanoparticles using intense x-ray free electron laser pulses. By exploiting the curvature of the Ewald sphere and the symmetry of the nanoparticle, we reconstructed the 3D electron density of 34 core-shell structures from these diffraction patterns. To extract 3D structural information beyond the diffraction signal, we implemented a super-resolution technique by taking advantage of CDI's quantitative reconstruction capabilities. We used high-resolution model fitting to determine the Au core size and the Pd shell thickness to be 65.0 ± 1.0 nm and 4.0 ± 0.5 nm, respectively. We also identified the 3D elemental distribution inside the nanoparticles with an accuracy of 3%. To further examine the model fitting procedure, we simulated noisy diffraction patterns from a Au/Pd core-shell model and a solid Au model and confirmed the validity of the method. We anticipate this super-resolution CDI method can be generally used for quantitative 3D imaging of symmetrical nanostructures with elemental specificity.
Keyphrases
- high resolution
- sensitive detection
- electron microscopy
- photodynamic therapy
- reduced graphene oxide
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- healthcare
- crystal structure
- magnetic resonance imaging
- minimally invasive
- gold nanoparticles
- social media
- optical coherence tomography
- anti inflammatory
- walled carbon nanotubes
- health information
- single molecule