Realizing smart scanning transmission electron microscopy using high performance computing.

Scanning Transmission Electron Microscopy (STEM) coupled with Electron Energy Loss Spectroscopy (EELS) presents a powerful platform for detailed material characterization via rich imaging and spectroscopic data. Modern electron microscopes can access multiple length scales and sampling rates far beyond human perception and reaction time. Recent advancements in machine learning (ML) offer a promising avenue to enhance these capabilities by integrating ML algorithms into the STEM-EELS framework, fostering an environment of active learning.

Ultraclean Suspended Graphene by Radiolysis of Adsorbed Water.

Access to intrinsic properties of a 2D material is challenging due to the absence of a bulk that would dominate over surface contamination, and this lack of bulk also precludes effective conventional cleaning methods that are almost always sacrificial. Suspended graphene and carbon contaminants represent the most salient challenge. This work has achieved ultraclean graphene, attested by electron energy loss (EEL) spectra unprecedentedly exhibiting fine-structure features expected from bonding and band structure.

Boosting Dimethyl Carbonate Production from CO and Methanol using Ceria-Ionic Liquid Catalyst.

As a crucial strategy towards a sustainable chemical industry, the direct synthesis of dimethyl carbonate (DMC) from renewable carbon dioxide (CO) and methanol (MeOH) is studied using CeO nanoparticles modified with 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium hydrogen carbonate ([BMIm][HCO]) devoid of stoichiometric dehydrating agents. The synthesized CeO@[BMIm][HCO] catalyst having high thermal stability harnesses the unique physicochemical properties of CeO and the ionic liquid to exhibit a DMC yield of 10.4 % and a methanol conversion of 16.

Stabilized Synthesis of 2D Verbeekite: Monoclinic PdSe Crystals with High Mobility and In-Plane Optical and Electrical Anisotropy.

PdSe has a layered structure with an unusual, puckered Cairo pentagonal tiling. Its atomic bond configuration features planar 4-fold-coordinated Pd atoms and intralayer Se-Se bonds that enable polymorphic phases with distinct electronic and quantum properties, especially when atomically thin. PdSe is conventionally orthorhombic, and direct synthesis of its metastable polymorphic phases is still a challenge.