Hydrogen positions in single nanocrystals revealed by electron diffraction

• Published in: Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science) Vol. 355; no. 6321; pp. 166 - 169
• Main Authors: Palatinus, L., Brázda, P., Boullay, P., Perez, O., Klementová, M., Petit, S., Eigner, V., Zaarour, M., Mintova, S.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States American Association for the Advancement of Science 13-01-2017; The American Association for the Advancement of Science; American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS)
• Subjects: Aluminum phosphate; Atomic properties; Chemical Sciences; Cobalt; Crystal structure; Crystals; Diffraction; Electron diffraction; Electrons; Hydrogen; Hydrogen atoms; Inorganic materials; Localization; Nanocrystals; Nanostructure; Paracetamol; Position (location); Single crystals; Structural analysis; X-ray diffraction
• ISSN: 0036-8075; 1095-9203
• DOI: 10.1126/science.aak9652

The localization of hydrogen atoms is an essential part of crystal structure analysis, but it is difficult because of their small scattering power. We report the direct localization of hydrogen atoms in nanocrystalline materials, achieved using the recently developed approach of dynamical refinement of precession electron diffraction tomography data. We used this method to locate hydrogen atoms in both an organic (paracetamol) and an inorganic (framework cobalt aluminophosphate) material. The results demonstrate that the technique can reliably reveal fine structural details, including the positions of hydrogen atoms in single crystals with micro- to nanosized dimensions.