A review of advanced microscopy techniques for the development of nanotechnology in agriculture, food, and the environment

Microscopy techniques are essential for understanding the structure of materials of interest in agriculture, food, and the environment. These techniques can be classified according to their operating principles, such as fluorescence, electron, and probe scanning. Their complementary techniques provide specific advantages in the characterization of materials in the above mentioned fields. These approaches facilitate the characterization of the structure and morphology at nanometric and atomic scales of different materials through high-resolution images, as well as the analysis of important characteristics related to the composition and distribution of specific components. In this work, detailed descriptions are given of the operation principles of light microscopy (LM), confocal laser scanning microscopy (CLSM), superresolution microscopy (SRM), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), atomic force microscopy (AFM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). A compilation of operating principles is presented along with examples obtained with advanced microscopy techniques applied to the afore mentioned areas. In addition, the preparation of the samples to obtain the final images is described in order to explain the interaction of the sample with the modes of operation for each technique. This review provides an overview of microscopy techniques used in various fields of nanotechnology, including agriculture, food, and the environment.