Grain rotation and lattice deformation during photoinduced chemical reactions revealed by in-situ X-ray nanodiffraction

TL;DR

This paper introduces in-situ X-ray nanodiffraction capable of capturing atomic-resolution diffraction from single grains at millisecond timescales, enabling real-time observation of grain rotation and lattice deformation during photoinduced reactions.

Contribution

It develops a novel in-situ X-ray nanodiffraction technique with high temporal and spatial resolution to observe dynamic atomic-scale phenomena in materials.

Findings

Measured grain rotation speeds up to 3.25 rad/sec

Detected lattice deformation as large as 0.5 Angstroms

First real-time observation of atomic-scale changes during reactions

Abstract

In-situ X-ray diffraction (XRD) and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) have been used to investigate many physical science phenomena, ranging from phase transitions, chemical reaction and crystal growth to grain boundary dynamics. A major limitation of in-situ XRD and TEM is a compromise that has to be made between spatial and temporal resolution. Here, we report the development of in-situ X-ray nanodiffraction to measure atomic-resolution diffraction patterns from single grains with up to 5 millisecond temporal resolution, and make the first real-time observation of grain rotation and lattice deformation during photoinduced chemical reactions. The grain rotation and lattice deformation associated with the chemical reactions are quantified to be as fast as 3.25 rad./sec. and as large as 0.5 Angstroms, respectively. The ability to measure atomic-resolution diffraction patterns from individual grains with several millisecond temporal resolution is expected to find broad applications in materials science, physics, chemistry, and nanoscience.