3D structure of individual nanocrystals in solution by electron microscopy

Looking at teeny tiny platinum particles Electron microscopy is a powerful technique for taking snapshots of particles or images at near-atomic resolution. Park et al. studied free-floating platinum nanoparticles using electron microscopy and liquid cells (see the Perspective by Colliex). Using analytical techniques developed to study biological molecules, they reconstructed the threedimensional features of the Pt particles at near-atomic resolution. This approach has the scope to study a mixed population of particles one at a time and to study their synthesis as it occurs in solution. Science , this issue p. 290 ; see also p. 232