Robert Sinclair, Sang Chul Lee and Ai Leen Koh

Department of Materials Science and Engineering and Stanford Nano Shared Facilities, Stanford University, Stanford, CA, USA

The structure of thin film materials utilized for electro-chemical and catalytic purposes profoundly influences their properties and effectiveness. Changes in structure which are brought about by heating or exposure to gaseous environments can be studied by in situ high resolution electron microscopy. This paper will show results on the reduction of amorphous molybdenum sulphide thin films in a hydrogen environment and on the behavior of ceria thin films grown epitaxially on various oxide single crystal substrates. The utility of an aberration-corrected, environmental transmission electron microscope coupled with fast image recording will be emphasized.