Wet cotton fabric BEI / cooling stage / in-situ

Chemistry, Plastics / Polymer

In-situ SEM observation of a wet cotton fabric using the Aqua Cover method. This SEM image shows that the contact interface between the fiber and liquid water can be clearly observed. Since SEM requires a vacuum condition in the specimen chamber, it is usually difficult to maintain liquid water during SEM observation. However, under the low-temperature and low-vacuum conditions of 0ºC and 650 Pa, SEM observation can be performed while maintaining the liquid state. Since liquid water is optically transparent, it is difficult to observe the contact interface between the fiber and liquid water under an optical microscope. On the other hand, the electron beam is hard to penetrate into liquid water, enabling us to observe the liquid surface in SEM. This allows for easy observation of the solid-liquid contact interface in detail.