***The world of nanoparticles is utterly fascinating. But also incredibly hard to observe in real time. ***

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The scale of the nano-world makes observing the evens, the entities that exist in this incredible universe quite hard. Yet scientists from the aptly named Sensitive Instrument Facility that can be found in the Ames Laboratory that falls under the U.S. Department of Energy recently managed to do exactly that. They managed to observe the movement of atoms in real time thanks to an aberration-corrected scanning transmission electron microscopy during the synthesis of inter-metallic nanoparticles.

Inter-metallic particles are a specific type of alloys of two or more metals that are homogeneous with an ordered crystalline structure. Often they have incredible properties but are often quite fragile. In this case, scientists focused on inter-metallic nanoparticles of platinum and tin. These unique nanoparticles are promising for example for the biofuel industry. But until now we haven’t really known how these nanoparticles are created.

Detailed observation of the movement of the atoms shows us that during the creation of the inter-metallic nanoparticles a transitional phase that provides unique catalytic properties that later gives the inter-metallic particles their special properties.

Observing the process allows us to understand the reaction much better. And once we know the steps it will allow us to find more and better unknown materials.

**Sources:**
* https://www.ameslab.gov/news/news-releases/scientists-capture-live-atomic-level-detail-nanoparticle-formation

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