Electron Diffraction: A Hot Topic in Crystallography

What are electron diffraction and nano-crystallography and why are they so important for scientists, researchers and industry? A comprehensive round-up for scientists in academia and industry about a disruptive nano-analytical technology.

Electron diffraction (ED) is one of the most rapidly developing and exciting fields of crystallography. Over the past two years, every relevant congress or conference dedicated to crystallography, chemistry, material sciences, geology, bio-molecules and many other areas has featured sessions, key speakers and many lectures addressing the topic of ED. The number of scientific publications mentioning this technique is also increasing rapidly.

In this white paper, our aim is to give the reader a broad idea of the achievements and different techniques used, resulting in various acronyms in the literature. Furthermore, we explain the importance of these techniques in the field of nano-crystallography. The present limitations preventing this technique from becoming widespread are addressed. Above all, the paper presents a solution: the dedicated electron diffractometer for nano-crystallography. The paper also highlights an example of in situ polymorphism and gives a characterization of the different polymorphs using ED techniques.