Many technologically important processes in materials science, energy conversion, semiconductors and chemistry occur dynamically at the nanoscale. However, conventional characterization techniques often provide static snapshots before and after a process, making it difficult to directly observe transient phenomena, heterogeneity, degradation and failure mechanisms as they evolve.

iNSyT solutions, a spin-off originated from LMU Munich, has developed an optical microscopy platform for real-time, label-free and non-invasive observation of nanoscale processes under native experimental conditions. The technology builds on interferometric scattering microscopy (iSCAT) and enables high-speed imaging with nanoscale sensitivity, without requiring fluorescent labels, vacuum conditions or extensive sample preparation. The potential of iSCAT for investigating dynamic processes in energy and functional materials has recently been discussed in detail in our Perspective [1].

The platform is designed to reveal dynamic processes and nanoscale heterogeneity that are difficult to access using conventional microscopy. Applications span battery materials and ion transport, semiconductor and perovskite nanomaterials, particle formation and chemical synthesis, catalysis and other functional materials.[1] In our recent Nature Materials study, iSCAT was combined with photoluminescence microscopy to determine the size and quantum yield of thousands of individual CsPbBr₃ perovskite nanocrystals in situ [2]. This approach revealed particle-to-particle variability, size-dependent optical performance, defect-repair kinetics and degradation behaviour that are hidden by ensemble measurements.

In complementary work published in Nature, iSCAT was applied to image the early stages of covalent organic framework formation in operando [3]. Direct observation of liquid–liquid phase separation, nucleation and framework growth provided mechanistic insight into the role of the reaction environment and demonstrated how real-time visualization can contribute to rational materials synthesis.

These examples illustrate how direct visualization of nanoscale dynamics can provide mechanistic and quantitative information that is inaccessible from measurements of only the initial and final states. The technology is now translated from academic research into a scalable microscopy platform.