Three-dimensional electron ptychography of organic–inorganic hybrid nanostructures

Abstract

Three dimensional scaffolded DNA origami with inorganic nanoparticles has been used to create tailored multidimensional nanostructures. However, the image contrast of DNA is poorer than those of the heavy nanoparticles in conventional transmission electron microscopy at high defocus so that the biological and non-biological components in 3D scaffolds cannot be simultaneously resolved using tomography of samples in a native state. We demonstrate the use of electron ptychography to recover high contrast phase information from all components in a DNA origami scaffold without staining. We further quantitatively evaluate the enhancement of contrast in comparison with conventional transmission electron microscopy. In addition, We show that for ptychography post-reconstruction focusing simplifies the workflow and reduces electron dose and beam damage.

Electron Microscopy Studies of Soft Nanomaterials

“…Copyright 2020 Springer Nature. (g–i) Reprinted with permission from ref . Copyright 2022 Springer Nature.…”

“…The phase information on biological specimens can also be resolved in 3D by integrating electron ptychography with tomography. A recent study demonstrated the 3D phase reconstruction for the unstained DNA origami with Au NPs . A tilt series of ptychography-based tomography was performed in the tilting range of ±70° with a defocused electron probe of approximately 120 nm diameter.…”

“…A recent study demonstrated the 3D phase reconstruction for the unstained DNA origami with Au NPs. 345 A tilt series of ptychography-based tomography was performed in the tilting range of ±70°with a defocused electron probe of approximately 120 nm diameter. At each tilt angle, ptychographic data were acquired in a 10 × 10 scanning area (Figure 24g).…”

Three-dimensional inhomogeneity of zeolite structure and composition revealed by electron ptychography

“…Ptychographic tomography exhibited ~2-nm resolution in three dimensions at low-dose conditions (Fig. 5C) ( 45 ).…”

Ptychographic measurements of varying size and shape along zeolite channels

“…On the basis of two-dimensional (2D) coherent diffraction patterns acquired at 2D scan positions, which form the so-called 4D dataset, direct ptychographic methods [Wigner distribution deconvolution (WDD) or single side-band (SSB)] are highly dose efficient (28,29) and have the ability of live imaging (30,31). Both WDD and SSB are able to image beam-sensitive materials at higher contrast and spatial resolution (4,32,33). For example, an information limit of 2 Å has been demonstrated in zeolite with SSB (4).…”