‘Atomic bonding and separation process’ captured in video

Several atoms combine to form a molecule, and when the number and type of atoms constituting a molecule changes, the molecular properties also change significantly. It is said to be the first in the world to record the bonding or separation of atoms, one of the basics of chemistry.

The process of atomic bonding and separation has so far been impossible to record images. The reason is that when atoms bond, chemical bonds occur on a small scale of one half the width of a human hair. However, an international research team succeeded in capturing the chemical reactions taking place on this small scale. The filming method and the video itself were published in Science Advances, a scientific journal. According to this, this is the first time that the atomic bonding and separation process has been photographed in real time.

According to the research team, two rhenium atoms were put in a carbon nanotube with a diameter of 1 to 2 nm, and the atomic bonding and separation were photographed. For shooting, a transmission electron microscope was used to create an image by placing an electron beam on the specimen and visualizing it.

It was the research team of Professor Andrei Khlobystov at the University of Nottingham that recorded the atomic bonding and separation process in video. Related information can be found here .