US-German Networking Activity in Darmstadt
September 2016
Symposium on “Advanced and In-Situ Microscopies in Materials Science and Engineering” during the MSE Congress in Darmstadt from 27 to 29 September 2016
A symposium on ”Advanced and In-Situ Microscopies in Materials Science and Engineering” was held as part of US-German Networking Activities on Materials Science and Engineering at the MSE 2016. The symposium organisers were Rafal E. Dunin-Borkowski and Joachim Mayer from the Ernst Ruska-Centre for Microscopy and Spectroscopy with Electrons in Jülich (Germany), Wolfgang Jäger from the Christian-Albrechts-University in Kiel (Germany) and Guillermo Solórzano from the PUC Pontifical Catholic University Rio de Janeiro (Brazil).
The symposium provided a forum for researchers who are interested in applying advanced methods of electron microscopy and spectroscopy, including aberration‐corrected electron microscopy and in‐situ characterisation methods, to materials research and development for electronics, optics, magnetics and for energy and the environment. In 5 exceptionally-well-attended sessions, a wide spectrum of topics was covered, including nanostructured functional materials, soft matter, materials in bioscience and structural materials for industrial engineering. The symposium also provided a platform for further initiatives to form research collaborations and partnerships.
Current research topics were highlighted in keynote presentations given by leading invited experts from different institutions from the USA and from European institutes. The scientific presentations addressed topical research fields that are of fundamental importance for understanding the chemical and physical properties of materials and evaluating their potential for technological applications, including: (1) Advanced materials research using high-resolution TEM (HRTEM), spectroscopy in the TEM and atom probe tomography: impact of aberration-corrected HRTEM, spectroscopic investigations of plasmon properties in nanoscopic and mesoscopic metals, nanoscale heat conduction using in-situ thermal measurement techniques and correlative microscopy of internal interfaces in semiconductor materials and devices; (2) Dynamic and time-resolved TEM: atomic resolution dynamic observations of grain boundaries, rapid nanoscale materials processes with high time resolution by in-situ TEM and in-situ electrochemistry in the TEM; (3) Environmental (E)TEM, low voltage EM and in-situ scanning (S)TEM: in-situ and environmental (E)TEM for material reactions, low voltage EM for quantum materials research and in-situ TEM studies of fundamental processes in thin films using chip-based heating systems; (4) Functional nanomaterials and devices: Resolving the interplay of nanostructures and mechanical properties by advanced EM, structural control of graphene and further two-dimensional materials for new functional materials, localised electrical resistance of supported rGO measured using in-situ TEM and complex metal hydride systems for hydrogen storage; (5) Metallic alloys and composite materials: application of aberration-corrected electron microscopy to the characterisation of phase transformations and microstructural evolution in complex metallic alloys, size focusing effect in the precipitation of core/shell nanophases in aluminum alloys, in-situ TEM of core-shell formation in Bi-Na-Ti-O/Sr-Ti-O nanoparticles and analytical (S)TEM of sensitive composite organic-inorganic materials.
The detailed programme of MSE 2016 and of all of the symposia is available here.
The organisers gratefully acknowledge financial support from the following companies: CEOS GmbH (Heidelberg), FEI Deutschland GmbH (Frankfurt) Gatan GmbH (München), Hitachi High-Technologies Europe GmbH (Krefeld) JEOL (Germany) GmbH (Freising).