title: Insight to Nanoparticle Size Analysis-Novel and Convenient Image Analysis Method Versus Conventional Techniques.
abstract: The aim of this paper is to introduce a new image analysis program "Nanoannotator" particularly developed for analyzing individual nanoparticles in transmission electron microscopy images. This paper describes the usefulness and efficiency of the program when analyzing nanoparticles, and at the same time, we compare it to more conventional nanoparticle analysis techniques. The techniques which we are concentrating here are transmission electron microscopy (TEM) linked with different image analysis methods and X-ray diffraction techniques. The developed program appeared as a good supplement to the field of particle analysis techniques, since the traditional image analysis programs suffer from the inability to separate the individual particles from agglomerates in the TEM images. The program is more efficient, and it offers more detailed morphological information of the particles than the manual technique. However, particle shapes that are very different from spherical proved to be problematic also for the novel program. When compared to X-ray techniques, the main advantage of the small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) method is the average data it provides from a very large amount of particles. However, the SAXS method does not provide any data about the shape or appearance of the sample.
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science, Tampere University of Technology, P.O. Box 589, 33101, Tampere, Finland. minnamari.vippola@tut.fi.
authors.forename: Minnamari
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Vippola
authors.affiliation: Department of Signal Processing, Tampere University of Technology, P.O. Box 553, 33101, Tampere, Finland.
authors.forename: Masi
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Valkonen
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science, Tampere University of Technology, P.O. Box 589, 33101, Tampere, Finland.
authors.forename: Essi
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Sarlin
authors.affiliation: Department of Materials Science, Tampere University of Technology, P.O. Box 589, 33101, Tampere, Finland.
authors.forename: Mari
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Honkanen
authors.affiliation: Department of Signal Processing, Tampere University of Technology, P.O. Box 553, 33101, Tampere, Finland.
authors.forename: Heikki
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Huttunen
keywords: Balloon force; Image analysis; Nanoparticles; Particle size analysis; SAXS; Segmentation; Snake model; TEM; WAXS