This article reviews the advancements and prospects of liquid cell transmission electron microscopy (TEM) imaging and analysis methods in understanding the nucleation, growth, etching, and assembly dynamics of nanocrystals. The bonding of atoms into nanoscale crystallites produces materials with nonadditive properties unique to their size and geometry. The recent application of in situ liquid cell TEM to nanocrystal development has initiated a paradigm shift, (1) from trial-and-error synthesis to a mechanistic understanding of the “synthetic reactions” responsible for the emergence of crystallites from a disordered soup of reactive species (e.g., ions, atoms, molecules) and shape-defined growth or etching; and (2) from post-processing characterization of the nanocrystals’ superlattice assemblies to in situ imaging and mapping of the fundamental interactions and energy landscape governing their collective phase behaviors. Imaging nanocrystal formation and assembly processes on the single-particle level in solution immediately impacts many existing fields, including materials science, nanochemistry, colloidal science, biology, environmental science, electrochemistry, mineralization, soft condensed-matter physics, and device fabrication.

本文概述了液体细胞透射电子显微镜（TEM）成像和分析方法在理解纳米晶体的成核，生长，蚀刻和组装动力学方面的进展和前景。原子键合到纳米级微晶中会产生具有非加性性质的材料，这些材料的大小和几何形状是唯一的。原位液体细胞TEM在纳米晶体发展中的最新应用已引发了范式转变，（1）从试错法合成到对负责由无序反应性汤中出现微晶的“合成反应”的机械理解。种类（例如离子，原子，分子）和形状定义的生长或蚀刻；（2）从纳米晶超晶格组件的后处理表征到基本相互作用和能量格局的原位成像和映射控制着它们的集体相行为。在溶液中以单粒子水平成像纳米晶体的形成和组装过程会立即影响许多现有领域，包括材料科学，纳米化学，胶体科学，生物学，环境科学，电化学，矿化，软凝聚态物理和器件制造。