Scanning probe microscopes force microscopy

The success of STM has resulted in the development of a whole variety of related scanning probe microscopes, the most important of which is atomic force microscopy, AFM, also known as scanning force microscopy. AFM was first reported in 1986 by Binnig, Quate and Gerber. 

The most popular tools for the visualization of engineered nanoparticles are electron and scanning probe microscopes. The visualization, the state of aggregation, dispersion sorption, size, structure, and shape can be observed by means of atomic force microscopy (AFM), scanning electron (SEM), and transmission electron microscopy (TEM). Analytical tools (mostly spectroscopic) can be coupled to... 

Characterization of surfaces and thin films has been revolutionized by the invention of scanning probe microscopes, i,e, scanning force microscopy, scanning tunnelling microscopy, and scanning near field optical microscopy [262-264], These methods not only allow imaging of molecular and supramolecular details, but can also be employed to probe and to manipulate chemical properties on a nanoscopic or molecular scale, e,g., mechanical SFM [265], chemical SFM [266], electrochemical STM [267,268],... 

Scanning probe microscopy (SPM) can be used to measure the physical, chemical and electrical properties of the sample by scanning the particle surface with a tiny sensor of high resolution. The scanning probe microscope does not measure a force... 

There is a plethora of analytical techniques available to assess the acid-base properties of materials. They range from wettability and chromatographic measurements to spectroscopic approaches and more sophisticated scanning probe microscopic methods [12,13,15-19,59-61]. For the purpose of this contribution, the focus will be on contact angle measurements, inverse gas chromatography, x-ray photoelectron spectroscopy, and atomic force microscopy. 

In adhesion science and technology, the manifestations of acid-base interactions have been observed at both macroscopic and microscopic scales (wetting, adhesion, metallization, etc.). The development of scanning probe microscopic methods (scaiming tunneling microscopy (STM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM)) over the past decade has led to the possibility of measuring adhesion forces on the molecular scale in addition to imaging surfaces in atomic resolution. 

The development of nanostructured conductive polymers also requires the development of advanced characterisation techniques, and this aspect of current research is captured in several chapters. A detailed review of Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) covers the wide range of related scanning probe microscopes that are particularly relevant to soft materials. It also shows how techniques such as conductive AFM go beyond structural measurements to image the functional properties of materials relevant to applications such as solar cells. A wide range of spectroscopic techniques has also been reviewed, showing how they can be applied to learn about the interactions between conductive polymers and nanostructured... 

SECM (Scanning electrochemical microscopy) is a technique to characterize the local electrochemical nature of various materials by scanning a probe microelectrode [1,2]. The spatial resolution of SECM is inferior to the conventional scanning probe microscopes such as scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) as the fabrication of the probe, microelectrode, with nanometer sizes is quite difficult and the faradaic current of the microprobe is very small (often picoamps or less). However, SECM has unique characteristics that cannot be expected for STM and AFM SECM can image localized chemical reactions and it also can induce localized chemical reactions in a controlled manner. 

The phase separation of SAMs has been characterized so far by various analytical techniques such as XPS, IR, ellipsom-etry, and scanning probe microscopes (SPMs). SPMs among them, in particular, have sufficient lateral resolution and therefore appear the most promising for direct imaging of nanometer scale patterned SAMs [281]. The analysis is required for characterizing the spatial distribution of molecules on the 1-100-nm scale [281]. STM is a powerful tool that meets the requirement [281-283]. Friction force microscopy (FFM) is also useful for the purpose [284-286]. Although studies were conducted using L-B films. 

Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM). AFM measurements were performed with a commercial scanning probe microscope (Nanoscope III, Digital Instruments, Santa Barbara, CA). Measurements of surface topography and lateral force were made simultaneously by operating the instrument in contact mode while scanning the cantilever laterally. All measurements were performed in ambient air on freshly plasma cleaned samples. 

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