10 - Characterisation using environmental scanning electron microscopy (ESEM)

Abstract

Publisher Summary Environmental Scanning Electron Microscopy (ESEM), or its more general variant of Low Vacuum Scanning Electron Microscopy (LVSEM), is a technique, which has been around for more than 15 years. However, in many ways, it is still in its infancy in this field of tissue engineering as in many others across both the physical and biological sciences. Despite many advantages of the technique, it has been slow to make its mark in industry. In part, this is because of the strength of Conventional Scanning Electron Microscopy (CSEM), which has so many applications and advantages. In part, it would appear to have been due to failing marketing strategies within the companies that manufacture the different varieties of the instrument, initially implying the instrument was much simpler to use than many researchers found it and subsequently failing to appreciate fully its strengths for hydrated samples, including those of biological origin. However, it also has to be recognized that there are limitations of the instrument and some of these—including the fundamental challenge of beam damage—may ultimately be insuperable for imaging of live cells or following dynamic processes. This chapter discusses how useful the ESEM approach may be for the materials of interest— insulating and often hydrated— for tissue engineering.