Utilizing iDPC-STEM technology to achieve true atomic level imaging of the static and dynamic mechanical behavior of molecules in MOFs

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Date: 2025-11-21Read: 2

Real space imaging technology, with its unique real space resolution capability, can directly observe the atomic arrangement, interface structure, and various lattice defects on the surface of materials, achieving accurate analysis of local structures. This can help us understand the physical and chemical properties of material molecules at the atomic level, an advantage that cannot be replaced by reciprocal space diffraction technology. However, due to the fact that complex porous materials such as zeolites and metal organic frameworks (MOFs) are typical electron beam sensitive materials, their microstructure is prone to irreversible damage such as collapse and amorphization under high-energy electron beam irradiation. This poses strict requirements for low-dose observation of molecular behavior and interactions at the atomic level using electron microscopy characterization techniques.

The research group led by Professor Shen Boyuan from Soochow University and his collaborators used integrated differential phase contrast technology (iDPC-STEM) to image and analyze the UiO-66 lattice (a typical MOF structure), verifying the effectiveness of iDPC-STEM in visualizing molecules in electron sensitive materialsReal spaceThe advantages of imaging in studying molecular behavior and interactions. Based on this, a real space method has been developed to study the structural analysis and behavior of organic molecules using skeletal confinement structures, opening up new avenues for electron microscopy imaging research of organic molecules.

We are one of the few electron microscopy research groups in the world that focuses on the study of organic small molecule structures. Due to the extremely sensitive nature of organic molecular structures to electron beams, it is difficult to apply real space electron microscopy imaging techniques to the study of such organic systems. In recent years, the popularization of a series of low-dose imaging technologies represented by iDPC-STEM has brought hope to this research direction. We have been dedicated to iDPC-STEM imaging research on electronic sensitive materials since 2018, focusing on molecular sieves MOF、 A series of advances have been made in systems such as perovskite. In this article, we have utilized this technology to achieve true atomic level imaging of organic molecular units in MOF structures, and even studied the static and dynamic changes of chemical bonds in different states, taking low-dose electron microscopy technology to the extreme in real space molecular imaging.

Professor Shen Boyuan

Soochow University

They use Thermo Scientific ™ Titan Cubed Themis G2 300Aberration corrected transmission electron microscopeThe low-dose iDPC-STEM on UiO-66 first analyzed the atomic structure of the confined molecule terephthalic acid in quasi-static state, and revealed its molecular statics and dynamics behavior during stretching and compression processes in real space. These results perfectly support first principles simulations, indicating the elastic deformation of coordination bonds and C₆Thermal vibration of the ring. This study not only provides an effective strategy for molecular statics and dynamics imaging in atomic control and network chemistry, but also opens up new avenues for studying the behavior, interactions, and even physicochemical properties of other molecules in confined states from a new perspective of atoms and chemical bonds. Related achievements are in《Physical Review Letters》Published in a journal (Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 183001.).

Phys. Rev. Lett. 135, 183001. DOI: 10.1103/sd72-g4t8

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