Polycrystals are solid materials that are made up of
lots of small crystals. The points where the crystals meet are
known as grain boundaries (GBs). GBs are important because they can
affect the way the solid behaves. However, conventional analysis
techniques are unable to measure the nanoscale detail at GBs. Now,
researchers from The University of Tokyo Institute of Industrial
Science have used electron energy loss spectroscopy (EELS) to
investigate the effect of heating on the GBs of strontium titanate
(SrTiO3). Their findings are published in Nano
Letters.
