Fig. 4: Amorphization–crystallization oscillations of supported Au clusters.
From: Atomic-scale phase separation induced clustering of solute atoms
a–d In situ TEM image sequence showing the crystalline-to-amorphous transition for a significantly misaligned Au cluster. The black and green lines mark the misorientation angle between the Au cluster and the substrate. The white dashed lines outline the lower boundary of the crystalline Au cluster (Supplementary Movie 3). e–h In situ TEM image sequence showing the amorphization process in a slightly misaligned Au cluster (Supplementary Movie 4). Lines 1 and 2 mark the side surface of the Au cluster at 0 and 1.5 s, respectively. The white dashed lines outline the amorphized region of the Au cluster. Bottom-left inset in e: diffractogram showing the misalignment of the diffraction spots from the cluster (indicated by red and blue arrows). i–l In situ TEM images showing the recrystallization process in a large amorphous cluster (Supplementary Movie 5). The red arrow points to the surface area with partially ordered lattice fringes. The dashed white line circles out the crystallized area. Bottom-left insets are diffractograms, the diffraction spot pair marked by the green circles in (l) is associated with Au(200) lattice planes in the crystallized region of the cluster. All the in situ TEM images are captured in real time at 600 °C and 1 × 10−3 Torr of H2 gas flow. Scale bar, 2 nm (a–l).
