Scanning Electron Microscopy

 

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Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) is widely used in the pharmaceutical industry to investigate the microstructure, surface topography and chemistry of a range of organic and inorganic ingredients. It provides visual information of micrometer and sub-micrometer particles including shape, size, morphology, and elemental composition. SEM imaging of raw pharmaceutical ingredients also reveals whether the ingredients are individual particles or aggregates.

SEMs are the industry standard in materials science for research, quality control, and failure analysis. In modern materials science, investigations into nanotubes and nanofibres, high temperature superconductors, mesoporous architectures, and alloy strength, all rely heavily on the use of SEMs for research and investigation.

JSM-IT800

Applications & properties measured with Scanning Electron Microscopy

Hygroscopicity refers to the rate of water sorption from the atmosphere at constant temperature with changes in relative humidity. The DVS instruments can accurately measure the uptake of water, which is a useful measurement to understand the potential effects of moisture on the physical and chemical properties of a wide range of materials including pharmaceuticals, food and building materials. The kinetic data can be used to determine hygroscopicity, while the isotherms can be used to determine hydrophilicity.

The DVS can be used to understand the stability of materials. Water sorption of materials can affect their physical properties. For example, food ingredients can spoil due to exposure to humidity which can increase microorganisms, mould and bacteria. This has a significant impact on material shelf-life stability. The water vapor or moisture sorption properties of pharmaceutical materials such as excipients, drug formulations and packaging films are recognised as critical factors in determining their storage, stability, processing and application performance.

Specific surface area is typically described in units of m2/g and BET is the most common model for the calculation of surface area. One of the routine experiments carried out by the DVS is to calculate BET surface area of materials using organic vapors as probe molecules. The traditional BET determination includes nitrogen sorption under vacuum conditions. The DVS overcomes these limitations by using a range of organic probe molecules for sorption which can be carried out at ambient and varied temperatures as well as under ambient pressure or under vacuum. This has the advantage of calculating BET surface areas under real conditions, which is useful for material application.

Dynamic Vapor Sorption is a gravimetric technique used to measure the sorption properties of materials using water and organic vapors, used to characterise complex materials used in a range of industries.

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