Local Three-Dimensional Characterization of Nonlinear Grain Boundary Length within Bulk ZnO Using Nanorobot in SEM

Abstract

Aiming at the problems of lack of data on the nonlinear morphology to divide uneven grain boundary in bulk ceramics, a unique approach of nanorobot-based characterization of three-dimensional nonlinear structure length can be creatively proposed under scanning electron microscope to quantify the actual morphology of local micro-area grain boundary in bulk ZnO. Contour shapes of the targeted grain boundaries in plane X-Y can be imaged using SEM. Z-directional relative height differences at different positions can be sequentially probed by nanorobot. Experiments demonstrate that it is effective to characterize three-dimensional length structures of nonlinear grain boundaries in bulk materials. By quantifying Z-directional relative height differences, it can be verified to show that irregular characteristics exist in three-dimensional grain boundary length, which can extend the depth effect on nonlinear bulk conductance. Furthermore, this method can also obtain nonlinear quantitative topographies to divide grain boundaries to uneven structure in the analysis of bulk polycrystalline materials.

Nondestructive characterization of grain boundary Z‐directional lateral surface in ZnO using nanorobot combined with SEM

“…Consequently, two‐dimensional profile projections beyond the double dashed lines of z 1 and z 2 can be employed to characterize the relative position relationships among different grain Z ‐dimensional profile. Different from local three‐dimensional characterization of nonlinear grain boundary lengths at plane X – Y in the published paper 11 , different Z ‐dimensional relative height differences in plane Y – Z can be nondestructively characterized simultaneously to in situ quantify the relative larger micro‐area grain boundaries heights along Z direction of depth.…”

“…Although an atomic force microscope (AFM) or confocal microscope can be utilized to image three-dimensional morphologies, but their limitations of working conditions and application environments seem to be not suitable for grain boundary characterizations, such as requirement of characterization of smaller uneven grain boundary using nanorobot manipulations 8 . In order to study smaller grain boundary, authors' team has developed an electrical characterization method using nanorobot in scanning electron microscope (SEM) [9][10][11] , capable of accomplishing nanometer measurement. But, these published papers by authors' team mainly focus on characterization of grain boundaries in plane X-Y, which cannot accomplish the nondestructive characterization of Z-directional lateral structures and electrical properties in plane Y-Z.…”

Micromixing and Co-Precipitation in Continuous Microreactors with Swirled Flows and Microreactors with Impinging Swirled Flows

“…Some general principles of nanosized particle formation by the use of microreactors with impinging jets are discussed in our paper [1]. Though there are some general ideas applicable to any type of microreactor [2][3][4][5], the microreactors with swirled flows have some peculiarities described in the present paper.…”

“…From a practical point of view, the most convenient tool for the "design" of nanosized particles would be a hypothetical device that allows one to select the desired atoms and place them in the lattice of the crystals being grown in a proper way. Although certain attempts in this direction (hereinafter we will call it the "nano-approach") could be done, e.g., based on the use of powerful electromagnetic fields (which were applied for instance for catalytic reactions [2,3,6,7]) and it is possible to imagine the use of nanorobots (which are quite widely studied for biomedical application [4,5,8,9]). The advantage of this approach appears to be the guaranteed selectivity, but the performance of this approach for the synthesis of nanosized particles is still a challenge due to some technical limitations.…”

Novel ZnO-Based Nanostructures: Synthesis, Characterization and Applications

“…Aiming at the problem of a lack of data on the nonlinear morphology to divide uneven grain boundary in bulk ceramics, Shen et al [10] developed a unique approach of the local three-dimensional characterization of nonlinear grain boundary length within bulk ZnO, using a nanorobot in SEM. SEM can generate an image of the contour shapes of the targeted grain boundaries in the X-Y plane, while the Z-directional relative height differences at different positions can be sequentially probed by the nanorobot.…”