Resolving the internal structure of hematite microparticles with nanobeam scanning

In the soft matter field, hematite microparticles are becoming increasingly important while their growth mechanism and their internal structure remain largely unknown. In particular, what determines the cubic shape of particles made of nanocrystals with uniaxial symmetry is still a mystery. In a recent successful experiment SC-5258, we looked at the diffraction patterns of single hematite microparticles using the microbeam setup where the whole particle was illuminated giving us information on the average internal structure. We now apply for a follow-up experiment using the nanobeam setup to probe different local areas of the particles separately.