NanoMetre-scale Material Characterisation Using AFM

Fiona Frehill, PhD
UK SPM Conference 2008

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) can serve as a powerful characterisation tool for material science. In addition to the direct and three-dimensional visualisation of topography with unprecedented spatial resolution, advanced operation modes such as phase imaging allows the probing of other material properties and thus provides additional information. In this presentation, application of AFM on both polymer and nanoparticle samples will be discussed.

The importance of polymer studies in different environments and at various temperatures is well recognised. There is also understanding that many of the capabilities and, particularly, imaging under liquids and in different vapours are not trivial procedures. Main hurdles for experiments under liquids are the finding of the most efficient way of driving an AFM probe into oscillation and a design of robust and closed cell for imaging under water and different organic solvents. Such experiments can lead to recognition of hydrophilic surface locations by in situ monitoring of local swelling in various polymer samples. Imaging in vapour of organic solvent will help to visualise cross-linked regions - a related morphology of rubbery materials. Among possible extensions of these applications are studies of catalytic activities of nanoparticles in different media and examination of conducting channels in proton exchange membrane fuel cells.

Examples of AFM studies of local surface structures, molecular composition and mechanical properties of a broad range of polymer materials, including block copolymers, bulk polymers, thin-film polymers, polymer composites, and polymer blends, with and without environmental control will be demonstrated. For nanoparticle analysis, AFM allows the precise measurements of the size, differentiation of the materials, and reveal the structures at single particle level.

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