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ESEM Studies of Surface Phenomena in Complex Fluids

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 July 2020

R. G. Mathews
Affiliation:
Polymers and Colloids Group, Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 OHE, UK
D. J. Stokes
Affiliation:
Polymers and Colloids Group, Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 OHE, UK
A. M. Donald
Affiliation:
Polymers and Colloids Group, Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge Madingley Road, Cambridge, CB3 OHE, UK
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Extract

The ability of Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopy (ESEM) to provide electron images of volatile and/or insulating samples without need for sample preparation allows imaging of liquid surface at resolutions substantially beyond those obtainable with optical microscopy.

The system chosen for study was a dispersion of di-iso-heptyl-phthalate (DHP) in water, stabilised with a mixed surfactant system comprising equal masses of Tween 20 (Polyoxyethylene sorbitan monolaurate) and Span 20 (Sorbitan monolaurate) at an effective HLB of 12.75. DHP was chosen for its unsaturated electronic structure, which improves secondary electron contrast in the ESEM, and for the similarity of its density (995 kgm-3) to water. Emulsions, containing between 25 and 80 vol% DHP and 0-3 wt% surfactant were produced in a Silverson mixer fitted with an emulsor screen. Samples were placed in a brass holder on a Peltier cooling stage and cooled to 2°C.

Type
Working with ESEM and Other Variable Pressure Systems
Copyright
Copyright © Microscopy Society of America

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References

References:

1)Danilatos, G.Microsc. Res. Tech. 1993, 25, 354361CrossRefGoogle Scholar
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4)Stokes, D. J.; Thiel, B. L.; Donald, A. M.Micros. Miwanal. 5 (Suppl 2: Proceedings), pub Springer, 1999, 280281Google Scholar