Transmission electron microscopic observation of nanomaterial contained in plastics.

— Sample preparation methods for powdery paint —

Abstract

Workers handling and painting with powdery paint have a risk of unintentional exposure to nano-particles during their work. Nano-particles in powdery paint were observed by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) directly without any pretreatment, or with the following pretreatment. An ultra-thin section of epoxy-resin embedded original powdery paint was made using ultra-microtome after a pre-coat of gold was applied to the powdery paint by gold vapor deposition treatment. Nano-particles were observed located not only inside the powder also on the surface. Our results show that the preparation method applied in this research works effectively for TEM observations.