By using high-resolution transmission electron microscopy (HRTEM), it was possible to elucidate edge-on views of the surface atomic structure of sulfated zirconia and Fe/Mn promoted sulfated-zirconia catalysts. The results indicate that the presence of sulfate groups and Fe/Mn species not only stabilizes the tetragonal zirconia phase, but also induces the formation of well-faceted small zirconia crystallites. The shape of the sulfated zirconia crystallites exhibits two types of surfaces: long smooth and relatively few short rough planes, with the long smooth (110) plane being clearly predominant. HRTEM images of this plane revealed the presence of an adsorbed sulfate layer. On the other hand, the presence of Fe and Mn species were apparent on the (001) and (110) surfaces of zirconia particles.

A new spatially resolved electron energy-loss spectrometry (EELS) method was introduced to obtain atomic structure information of grain boundaries in diamond thin films grown by chemical vapor deposition. The electron energy-loss spectra recorded from the grain boundary regions showed different feature near the energy loss corresponding to carbon ls-to-π* transition, as compared to the spectra recorded from neighboring crystalline regions. This difference was attributed to dangling bonds in atoms with planar three-fold coordination. A series of experiments are described in this paper that exclude any possible artifact in result interpretation.