Microscopy techniques

Microscopy is the study of the fine structure and morphology of objects with the use of a microscope. Resolution and contrast are key 

Review articles that describe the application of microscopy techniques to the study of polymer materials include Hobbs [42,43] who discusses applications, and Grubb [6] and Thomas [44], who review the characterization of polymers, with emphasis on TEM techniques. White and Thomas [45] review SEM of polymers. 

The technique of scaiming electron microscopy has already been briefly mentioned in Section 2.2.5 in relation to the elemental analysis of surfaces in conjunction with XRF. It can also be used in its own right, where its high magnification powers can be employed to determine the particle size of fillers and in the detailed examination of fracture surfaces. 

Transmission electron microscopy (TEM) can be used to investigate the phase morphology of polymer blends and the dispersion of fillers. 

A very wide range of analytical techniques are used to characterize polymer materials (e.g., see references on polymer physics [49], thermal analysis [73,74], light microscopy [75,76], Raman [77, 78], x-ray scattering [79], various spectroscopies [80, 81], and a wide range of microscopy techniques [82]). A text on polymer blends also describes many polymer characterization techniques [83]. Texts on microscopy with a focus on biological materials are often useful for the polymer microscopist (e.g., [84,85]) as the materials have in common a tendency to be soft, to require contrast enhancement, and to suffer from radiation damage in electron beam instruments. The primary characterization of an 

There are two further general types of physical characterization. They involve either scattering of light, neutrons, or x-rays or the formation of images of the polymer by microscopy, the subject of this text. Electron diffraction logically belongs in the first group but is always performed in an electron microscope, so it is associated with 

The past decade has seen the emergence of analytical imaging, which is imaging using the signals from various analytical instruments, such as FTIR and Raman microscopy, x-ray microscopy, and imaging by surface analysis using secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS) and x-ray photon spectroscopy (XPS). 

There is a wide range of microscopy instruments available that can resolve details ranging from the millimeter to the subnanometer scale (Table 1.3). The size and distribution of 

Scanning probe microscopy (SPM, AFM, STM, etc.) Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) 

---

The electron micrographs of Fig. 4.11 are more than mere examples of electron microscopy technique. They are the first occasion we have had to actually look at single crystals of polymers. Although there is a great deal to be learned from studies of single crystals by electron microscopy, we shall limit ourselves to just a few observations ... 

Cathodoluminescence (CL), i.e., the emission of light as the result of electron-beam bombardment, was first reported in the middle of the nineteenth century in experiments in evacuated glass tubes. The tubes were found to emit light when an electron beam (cathode ray) struck the glass, and subsequendy this phenomenon led to the discovery of the electron. Currendy, cathodoluminescence is widely used in cathode-ray tube-based (CRT) instruments (e.g., oscilloscopes, television and computer terminals) and in electron microscope fluorescent screens. With the developments of electron microscopy techniques (see the articles on SEM, STEM and TEM) in the last several decades, CL microscopy and spectroscopy have emerged as powerfirl tools for the microcharacterization of the electronic propenies of luminescent materials, attaining spatial resolutions on the order of 1 pm and less. Major applications of CL analysis techniques include ... 

FIGURE 5.4 Stages in sol-gel processing are captured by a new electron microscopy technique. (1) Spherical particles tens of nanometers across can be seen in a colloidal silica sol. (2) Addition of a concentrated salt solution initiates gelation. (3) The gelled sample, after drying under the electron beam of the microscope, shows a highly porous structure. Courtesy, J. R. Bellare, J. K. Bailey, and M. L. Mecartney, University of Minnesota. 

The direct visnalization of microstructure may be accomplished by various forms of microscopy. Recent refinements in microscopy techniques are epitomized by video-enhanced interference phase-contrast microscopy, which is emerging as a workhorse probe for colloidal suspensions and other microstructnred liqnids. 

Microscopic techniques are extensively used to study the surface morphology of reinforcing fibers. The characterization of microstructure of polymer fibers provides an insight into stmcture-property relationship of the fiber. Microscopy techniques have been employed for the... 

Berg R. H., G. W. Erdos, M. Gritzali and R. D. Brown. (1988). Enzyme-gold affinity labeling of cellulose. Journal of Electron Microscopy Techniques 8 371-379. 

For the investigation of polymer systems under spatial confinement, fluorescence microscopy is a powerful method providing valuable information with high sensitivity. A fluorescence microscopy technique with nanometric spatial resolution and nanosecond temporal resolution has been developed, and was used to study the structure and dynamics of polymer chains under spatial confinement a polymer chain in an ultra-thin film and a chain grafted on a solid substrate. Studies on the conformation of the single polymer chain in a thin film and the local segmental motion of the graft polymer chain are described herein. 

Analytical techniques used in troubleshooting and formulation experimentation available to the rubber compounder were reviewed [90]. Various textbooks deal with the analysis of rubber and rubber-like polymers [10,38,91]. Forrest [38] has illustrated the use of wet chemistry, spectroscopic, chromatographic, thermal, elemental and microscopy techniques in rubber analysis. 

The relatively poor spatial resolution of XPS compared, for example, with electron microscopy techniques such as SAM is more than offset by the benefit of concurrent chemical state identification. 

Lidback, C.A. Scanning Infrared Microscopy Techniques for Semiconductor Thermal Analysis, IEEE Trans. Reliab.. 1979, 17, 183-188. 

A.R. Clarke and C.N. Eberhardt, Microscopy Techniques for Materials Science, Woodhead Publishing, 2002. 

During the past two decades, cell-biological and biomedical research has greatly benefited from innovations in fluorescence microscopy. Both the increase in the repertoire of fluorescence staining techniques at the (sub)cellular level and the development of a multitude of novel fluorescence microscopy techniques contributed significantly. 

Fluorescent labels, by contrast, can provide tremendous sensitivity due to their property of discrete emission of light upon excitation. Proteins, nucleic acids, and other molecules can be labeled with fluorescent probes to provide highly receptive reagents for numerous in vitro assay procedures. For instance, fluorescently tagged antibodies can be used to probe cells and tissues for the presence of particular antigens, and then detected through the use of fluorescence microscopy techniques. Since each probe has its own fluorescence emission character, more... 

Colloidal gold-labeled (strept)avidin can be used as highly sensitive detection reagents for microscopy techniques (Cubie and Norval, 1989) (Chapter 24). Finally, cytotoxic substances coupled to (strept)avidin can be used to direct cell-killing activity toward a tumor-cell-bound, biotinylated monoclonal antibody (or other targeting molecule) for cancer therapy (Hashimoto et al, 1984) (Chapter 21). 

Other proteins commonly crosslinked to (strept)avidin are chromogenic or fluorescent molecules, such as ferritin or phycobiliproteins (Chapter 9, Section 7). These conjugates can be used in microscopy techniques to stain and localize certain antigens or receptors in cells or tissue sections. 

VIII.C. Advances in In Situ Wet-Electron Microscopy Technique (Wet-ETEM)... 

Botanical microscopy-Technique. 2. Plant cytochemistry-Technique. 3. Electron microscopy-Technique. I. Dashek, William V. 

Bozzola JJ, Russell LD. Electron Microscopy Techniques for Biologists, Jones and Bartlett Publishers, Boston, MA, 1992. 

---