Special Issue “Electron Crystallography: A Deep Dive into Nanocrystals” 

Dear Colleagues,

Interest in electron diffraction (ED) has significantly increased in the last ten years, in parallel with the automation of routines for data collection, usually performed with a transmission electron microscope (TEM). The long-standing issue of multi-scattering (dynamic effects) typical of in-zone oriented patterns was significantly mitigated by the possibility of performing three-dimensional, single-crystal-like data acquisition. This protocol, generally referred to as three-dimensional electron diffraction (3DED) or microcrystal electron diffraction (MicroED), allows for the acquisition of structural data from single crystals with sizes of a few microns to a few tens of nanometers, regardless of the nearby presence of other phases. Therefore, 3DED was successful for the structure determination of a number of inorganic and organic new compounds that were previously considered intractable by X-ray diffraction methods. Moreover, ED is more sensitive to light atoms, ionic charges and the absolute structure in chiral compounds. Such potential can be fully exploited through a careful structural refinement that considers the residual dynamical effects.

This Special Issue aims to cover different aspects of 3DED, with particular reference to the aspects discussed during the “International School of the Italian Crystallography Association AICS2023 Electron Crystallography: A Deep Dive into Nanocrystals” conference. 

Dr. Paolo Mazzeo
Guest Editor

Manuscript Submission Information

Manuscripts should be submitted online at www.mdpi.com by registering and logging in to this website. Once you are registered, click here to go to the submission form. Manuscripts can be submitted until the deadline. All submissions that pass pre-check are peer-reviewed. Accepted papers will be published continuously in the journal (as soon as accepted) and will be listed together on the special issue website. Research articles, review articles as well as short communications are invited. For planned papers, a title and short abstract (about 100 words) can be sent to the Editorial Office for announcement on this website.

Submitted manuscripts should not have been published previously, nor be under consideration for publication elsewhere (except conference proceedings papers). All manuscripts are thoroughly refereed through a single-blind peer-review process. A guide for authors and other relevant information for submission of manuscripts is available on the Instructions for Authors page. Crystals is an international peer-reviewed open access monthly journal published by MDPI