Electron Diffraction

With X-ray crystallography, the smallest possible crystal dimension is 1 micron, and only then when utilizing the brightest X-ray sources and noise‑free detectors. However, in recent years, there has been an increasing need for the structure analysis of substances that only form microcrystals, crystals that are only a few hundred nanometers or less in size.

A new analytical method, MicroED, has been developed that uses electron diffraction  to measure 3D molecular structures from nanocrystalline materials. Electron diffraction provides researchers with the ability to perform single crystal diffraction on samples smaller than those at the limit of X-ray diffraction. However electrons interact very strongly with matter, imposing an upper limit on the size of samples that can be studied. MicroED also presents experimental challenges that are different than X-ray crystallography, which is why the two techniques complement one another to provide structural scientists with enhanced capability.