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Nanoanalysis involves examining objects at the nanoscale using technologies such as X-ray crystallography, which can visualize atomic structures. It has been used to study a variety of compounds and materials, including metamaterials with unique properties. However, finding a good sample can be challenging due to the sensitivity of nanoscale imaging techniques.
Nanoanalysis is a fancy-sounding word that simply means looking at something at the nanoscale. One could call looking out of a window “macroanalysis” because it involves analyzing a scene at a macroscale. Nanoanalysis is conducted using any number of technologies capable of resolving images at the nanoscale: tunneling microscopes (STM), atomic force microscopes (AFM), scanning probe microscopes (SPM), transmission electron microscopes ( TEM), field emission microscopes (FEM), and for the highest resolution, X-ray crystallography.
Nanoanalysis really took off with the invention of X-ray crystallography in 1914. The first chemical whose atomic structure was visualized was table salt, NaCl. X-ray crystallography does not produce an exact picture of the object under nanoanalysis, but it reflects X-rays (which have tiny wavelengths) from a crystal and a diffraction pattern is recorded, similar to what is seen when someone holds a crystal to the light and watches how the light is reflected. As the crystal is slowly rotated, the diffraction pattern continues to be recorded and, using sophisticated mathematical techniques, the investigator can extrapolate the crystal’s atomic structure.
Nanoanalysis has been used for a variety of purposes since it was first discovered. X-ray crystallography has been used to visualize the structure of hundreds of thousands of compounds, from the simplest monatomic crystals to complex proteins. X-ray crystallography data was used by Watson and Crick to formulate their hypothesis on the double helix structure of DNA in 1953.
Nanoanalysis can be challenging because many nanoscale imaging techniques are so sensitive that the sample must be atomically perfect for the image to come out well. Therefore, the hardest part of imaging a specimen is finding a good one.
Nanoanalysis has been used to show how the nanoscale structure of a material can alter its macroscale properties. For example, some materials with repeating nanoscale structures, called metamaterials, have unusual optical or electrical properties. Mother of pearl, found in oysters, and some types of butterfly wings have a beautiful translucent appearance due to the regularities in their nanoscale structure. Without nanoanalysis, we would never know the mechanism behind all this.
