Pair Distribution Function Obtained from Electron Diffraction: An Advanced Real-Space Structural Characterization Tool

Atomic-scale structure determination is crucial to the understanding of nanomaterial properties and development of new technologies. Although pair distribution function (PDF) analysis by neutrons and X-ray scattering profile has been used to study materials, electron diffraction can offer advantages to characterize the atomic structure of clusters, amorphous samples, and nanomaterials. Electrons have higher scattering power than X-rays, allowing the acquirement of PDF from electron diffraction (ePDF) for small sample amounts and with time-efficient data acquisition. Compared with synchrotron X-rays and neutrons as sources for PDF, the availability of electron microscopes worldwide is advantageous. Nowadays, with the rise of methodologies and specific software for ePDF data analysis, the scientific community can benefit from advanced transmission electron microscopy (TEM) structure determination integrating commonly available TEM analyses—size, distribution, shape, and high-resolution TEM atomic visualization—with ePDF atomic structure determination, both for bulk and surface configurations. Therefore, ePDF has the potential to become a routine and advanced characterization tool for nanomaterials science.