Structural atomic study in platinum heterogeneous catalyst by aberration-corrected STEM

Highlights: • PtNPs heterogeneous catalyst were characterized by spherical aberration-corrected (Cs-STEM). • The simulated images allow to be approximated to the results of the HAADF images obtained experimentally. • From a HAADF image is possible to simulate it and approximate the number of atoms contained in the cluster. The atomic and structural analysis of platinum nanoparticles (PtNPs) heterogeneous catalysts was carried out using the scanning transmission electron microscopy with spherical aberration-corrected (Cs-STEM) technique. The corrected spherical aberration coefficients in the convergent electron beam under focus and over focus made it possible to obtain subangstrom resolution to perfectly identify positions and atomic columns in PtNPs supported on magnetite (Fe₃O₄). The images formed in high-angle annular dark field (HAADF), allowed to observe PtNPs < 2 nm, crystalline defects, steps, twin boundaries and disorder in the atomic columns, as well as an estimate of the number of atoms contains in a cluster of PtNPs according to our 3D simulation. Hence, the perspective of this work is to study high resolution HAADF images to extract as much information as possible according to the challenges and opportunities involved the use and development of new systems used in nano-catalysis.