Optical super-resolution imaging in soft matter systems
Project area:
Analytical Chemistry, Method Development
Project leader:
Dr. Xiaomin Liu
Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research Mainz
Department for Molecular Spectroscopy
Ackermannweg 10, D-55128 Mainz, Germany
E-Mail: liuxiaomin[a]mpip-mainz.mpg.de
Summary
Standard tools to study defects in soft matters systems are based on optical methods (e.g., fluorescence
microscopy and spectroscopy (1), dynamic light scattering), electron microscopy, and X-ray imaging techniques. However, the spatial resolution of conventional optical microscopy, one of the most widely used tools, is diffraction-limited to, at best, 200 nm laterally and 600 nm axially in the visible range and thus restricts the visualization of the small size of single soft matter defects, typically in the range of ~1 nm. Recently, optical super-resolution microscopy (SRM) is emerging as a powerful tool for studying soft matter systems owing to its nanometric resolution, multi-color ability, and minimal invasiveness (2,3). Besides the nanoscale spatial resolution, the ability to visualize the three-dimensional spatial orientation of individual molecules and chemical bonds could provide a complementing tool to investigate the defects of soft matter systems. One common issue for the abovementioned fluorescence imaging-based techniques is the spontaneous fluorescence of materials in many soft matter systems, which generates a strong background and prevents high-resolution visualization and molecule orientation detection (2,4).
In this proposed project, we intend to develop and investigate new correlative optical microscopy and
spectroscopy methods with the aims to 1) image soft matter systems with improved (sub-20 nm) imaging
resolution across a wide range of different environments (e.g., aqueous solution at different pH values, organic solvents, air), and 2) determine the orientation of molecules at improved imaging speed (within ~100 ms) and resolution up to single-molecule level while excluding spontaneous fluorescence effects.
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Resolution Imaging of Unstained Polymer Nanostructures. Sci. Rep. 2016, 6 (1), 28156.
https://doi.org/10.1038/srep28156