Soft Matter Electron Microscopy
Overview of EM facilities at the Sustainable and Bio-inspired Materials Department
Electron microscopy (EM) is an essential tool for structural characterisation at small length scales, correlating material morphology and internal structure at resolutions as fine as sub-atomic levels. However, its analytical capability is significantly restricted when applied to soft and biological materials, which are highly susceptible to damage from high-energy electron radiation.
The group’s research centres on developing EM-based characterisation methods for radiation-sensitive materials, with a focus on cellulose and other carbohydrates. Using cryogenic and low-dose transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and electron diffraction (ED), Dr Yu Ogawa and his team aim to reveal the molecular and supramolecular structural details of this important class of biopolymers.
Our EM facilities house a cryo transmission electron microscope (cryoTEM) and a cryo focused ion beam scanning electron microscope (cryoFIB/SEM), complementing the existing facilities at MPIKG. These facilities are dedicated to the structural characterization of radiation-sensitive soft and biological materials.
Available Equipment
Transmission Electron Microscopy
JEOL JEM F-200 “Cryo”
- Cold field emission gun
- Cryo polepiece for low ice contamination rate
- Accelerating voltage: 60, 80, 120, and 200 kV.
- TEM lattice resolution at 200 kV: 0.1 nm
- STEM resolution (HAADF): 0.14 nm
- α-tilt angle: ±80°
- Hole-free phase plate
- Gatan Metro In-situ direct electron detector
- JEOL STEM detector
- Gatan Elsa cryo-transfer holder (698.ULP) with α-tilt angle > ±70°
- Merlin T4 hybrid pixel detector (will be installed in August 2026)
- NanoMegas precession and 4D STEM scan engine (will be installed in August 2026)
ZEISS Crossbeam 550 FIB/SEM with Leica cryo transfer system
- Schottky field emission gun (0.02-30 kV)
- Gallium focus ion beam (0.5-30 kV)
- Secondary electron ion detector
- InLens detector
- Energy-selective in-column backscattered (ESB) electron detector
- Retractable backscattered electron detector
- STEM detector
- Oxford Ultim Max 170 EDS detector
- Oxford Omniprobe 350 micromanipulator
- Tofwerk seconndary ion mass spectrometry detector
- Leica EM ACE900 freeze fracture system
- Leica EM VCT500 cryo transfer system
- Leica EM GP2 plunge freezer
Scanning Electron Microscopy
Tescan Clara Field-emission SEM
- Schottky emitter
- Accelerating voltage: 50 V-30 kV
- In-chamber Everhart-Thornley detector
- In-chamber BSE detector
- In-beam multi-detector
- EDS detector
- Beam deceleration function
