Environmental SEM (ESEM) in the Study of Biomedical Materials, Cells & Interfaces

Abstract The ability of ESEM to image insulating and/or moist specimens without the need for the removal of volatile components or the application of a conductive coating has significantly increased the potential range of experiments and observations that can be performed at the high resolution of electron microscopy. Such a technological advance has particularly important implications for the study of soft matter, complex fluids and biological specimens. An important area of study to which ESEM can be readily applied is that of materials for biomedical applications. Hydroxyapatite (HA) ceramics and HA/polymer composites (e.g. HAPEX™) are being developed for use as synthetic scaffolds in bone tissue engineering. The bioactivity of these materials is dependent upon such factors as phase composition, chemical composition, surface activity, crystallinity and microstructure. Using ESEM it is possible to obtain surface-sensitive, specimen-dependent secondary electron images (in the absence of specimen coating), yielding potentially new perspectives on microstructure to complement information derived from other techniques.