Elucidating the structural information of nanoscale materials in their solvent-exposed state is crucial, as a result, cryogenic transmission electron microscopy (cryo-TEM) has become an increasingly popular technique in the materials science, chemistry, and biology communities. Cryo-TEM provides a method to directly visualize the specimen structure in a solution-state through a thin film of vitrified solvent. This technique complements X-ray, neutron, and light scattering methods that probe the statistical average of all species present; furthermore, cryo-TEM can be used to observe changes in structure over time. In the area of self-assembly, this tool has been particularly powerful for the characterization of natural and synthetic small molecule assemblies, as well as hybrid organic-inorganic composites. In this review, we discuss recent advances in cryogenic TEM in the context of self-assembling systems with emphasis on characterization of transitions observed in response to external stimuli.

中文翻译：

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动态自组装纳米结构表征的低温透射电子显微镜研究进展。

阐明溶剂暴露状态下纳米级材料的结构信息至关重要，因此，低温透射电子显微镜 (cryo-TEM) 已成为材料科学、化学和生物学界越来越流行的技术。Cryo-TEM 提供了一种通过玻璃化溶剂薄膜直接观察溶液状态下的样品结构的方法。该技术补充了 X 射线、中子和光散射方法，这些方法探测存在的所有物种的统计平均值；此外，cryo-TEM 可用于观察结构随时间的变化。在自组装领域，该工具在表征天然和合成小分子组装以及混合有机-无机复合材料方面特别强大。在这次审查中，