Real-Time Observation of Polymer Fluctuations During Phase Transition Using Transmission Electron Microscope

Measuring molecular dynamics improves understanding of the structure–function relationships of materials. In this study, we present a novel technique for observing material dynamics using transmission electron microscopy (TEM), in which the gold nanoparticles are employed as motion probes for tracing the polymer dynamics in real space. A thin layer of polymer materials was generated on the 2 μm diameter holes of Quantifoil grids, and gold nanoparticles were dispersed on the membrane surface. By tracking the movement of gold nanoparticles from a series of TEM images taken under continuous temperature control, we obtained mean squared displacement (MSD) curves. The dynamics of poly{2-(perfluorooctyl)ethyl acrylate} (PC₈FA) and poly(stearyl acrylate) (PSA) were analyzed. In the temperature-dependent analysis of the MSD, sharp peaks were observed for both PC₈FA and PSA at positions corresponding to their melting and crystallization temperatures. These results demonstrate the capability of TEM to provide valuable insights into the dynamics of polymer materials, highlighting its potential for widespread application in materials sciences.