Nanotubes enable first atomic-scale observation of nucleation’s baby steps

A clever approach has allowed researchers to image the nucleation and growth of iron, gold and rhenium particles in real time at the sub-nanometre level – the first time that this has ever been observed in such detail .¹ The strategy, which combines the use of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs) as test tubes, amorphous carbon as an ‘atomic injector’ and a transmission electron microscope as both the energy source and imaging tool, could provide important insights for materials scientists. ‘The initial steps of nucleation critically determine the structure and size distribution of crystals and thus the functional properties of all materials,’ says Ute Kaiser at Ulm University in Germany, who led the study with Andrei Khlobystov from Nottingham University, UK.