Beilstein Talk "Probing nanostructures atom by atom: An advanced electron microscopy study"

Beilstein Talks

The Beilstein Talks are an established addition to the Beilstein-Institut’s projects supporting communication and information in science. These online talks are free to attend; a simple registration is all that is required.

Probing nanostructures atom by atom: An advanced electron microscopy study

Nasim Alem / The Pennsylvania State University 
May 21, 2026, 3–4 pm CEST

Online live talk

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Introduction

Scanning/Transmission electron microscopy (S/TEM) imaging and spectroscopy is unique among material characterization methods in that it allows for direct imaging of atomic structure and defects as well as their local physical and electronic properties. With the invention and development of aberration correctors, and fast and sensitive detectors over the past several years, advanced electron microscopy now possesses the ability to image individual atoms and directly identify their chemistry and structure with sub-Ångstrom precision. The unprecedented spatial and energy resolution of STEM, in combination with Electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) and Cathodoluminescence (CL) techniques has further enabled us to detect variations in the absorption and emission characteristics of materials at the nanoscale regime and correlate them with the local structure and chemistry. Furthermore, recent advances in data-driven analysis and machine learning (ML) algorithms have allowed extraction of meaningful information from electron microscopy data sets.

In this talk, we will present our recent studies on the local electronic/atomic structure and light emission characteristics in in-plane monolayer 2D transition metal dichalcogenide (TMD) using advanced electron microscopy imaging and spectroscopy. Our studies uncover evidence of quantum confinement as well as emission of interface excitons in the dot sizes ranging from a couple of nanometers to a few tens of nanometers. This talk will also present our recent efforts in understanding the underlying physics of defect formation and heteroepitaxy in the large family of 2D vertical TMD heterostructures, which is the key in the large-scale synthesis of 2D-based heterostructure devices.

👉 Go to the free registration for the online live talk!