title: Transmission electron microscope observation of a freestanding nanocrystal in a Coulomb potential well.
abstract: Usually pure electrostatic charges cannot be utilized alone to form macro-sized three-dimensional electromagnetic traps for trapping charged particles. These traps need additional dynamic electromagnetic fields. We report here the observation of a CdSe nanocrystal floating over a carbon film in a transmission electron microscope. The nanocrystal was most likely trapped in a naturally formed, nanometre-sized 3D Coulomb potential well. The results indicated the possibility of developing a novel nanodevice for the trapping and manipulation of charged nanoparticles.
authors.affiliation: Key Laboratory for the Physics and Chemistry of Nanodevices, Department of Electronics, Peking University, Beijing 100871, China. xusy@pku.edu.cn
authors.forename: Sheng-Yong
authors.initials: SY
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Wei-Qiang
authors.initials: WQ
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Meng
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Xu
authors.forename: Lian-Mao
authors.initials: LM
authors.lastname: Peng
mesh_terms: D019187:Cadmium Compounds / Q000737:chemistry; D046529:Microscopy, Electron, Transmission; D053758:Nanoparticles / Q000737:chemistry*; D018036:Selenium Compounds / Q000737:chemistry; D055672:Static Electricity
chemical_list: D019187:Cadmium Compounds; D018036:Selenium Compounds; C058667:cadmium selenide