Characterisation of catalysts using secondary and backscattered electron in-lens detectors

A study was conducted to demonstrate new detection principles and instrument design, the effects of the use of secondary and backscattered electron (BSE) in-lens detectors on imaging catalysts. A large number of secondary scattering products were generated by the interaction of the primary electron beam with the specimen material for image generation in a scanning electron microscope (SEM). Investigations revealed that secondary electron (SE) generation increased with decreasing atomic number and was worse for most of the catalyst supports, such as carbon and alumina. The in-lens backscattered detector known as an energy selective backscattered (EsB) detector was placed on the top of the in-lens SE detector to conduct the investigations. It was also necessary to explain the energy distribution of all possible electron scattering processes to clearly understand the meaning of the low loss (LL)-BSE detection.