2023/08/31 by Sang T. Pham, Natalia Koniuch, Pham, Sang T. +7
Engineering · Materials Science · Physics and Astronomy · #Electron and X-Ray Spectroscopy Techniques #FOS: Physical sciences #Force Microscopy Techniques and Applications #Ion-surface interactions and analysis #Materials Science (cond-mat.mtrl-sci) #Mesoscale and Nanoscale Physics (cond-mat.mes-hall)
paper · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2308.16589
openalex publication_date 2023/08/31 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
Organic molecular crystals encompass a vast range of materials from pharmaceuticals to organic optoelectronics and proteins to waxes in biological and industrial settings. Crystal defects from grain boundaries to dislocations are known to play key roles in mechanisms of growth and also in the functional properties of molecular crystals. In contrast to the precise analysis of individual defects in metals, ceramics, and inorganic semiconductors enabled by electron microscopy, significantly greater ambiguity remains in the experimental determination of individual dislocation character and slip systems in molecular materials. In large part, nanoscale dislocation analysis in molecular crystals has been hindered by the severely constrained electron exposures required to avoid irreversibly degrading these crystals. Here, we present a low-dose, single-exposure approach enabling nanometre-resolved analysis of individual extended dislocations in molecular crystals. We demonstrate the approach for a range of crystal types to reveal dislocation character and operative slip systems unambiguously.