Measuring adhesion on rough surfaces using atomic force microscopy with a liquid probe

• Juan V. Escobar,
• Cristina Garza and
• Rolando Castillo

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2017, 8, 813–825, doi:10.3762/bjnano.8.84

• adhesion between a single peak or protrusion and the liquid drop. This procedure could provide useful microscopic information to improve our understanding of wetting phenomena on rough surfaces. Keywords: atomic force microscopy; force of adhesion; functionalized-tip cantilevers; liquid probe

• the colloidal particle on a tipless cantilever. The force required to pull the drop off a surface is measured in a nitrogen atmosphere to avoid water capillary interactions. The liquid probe is close to what would be expected to be a smooth probe down to the atomic level. Recently, we reported an

• instrument and a procedure to measure forces between a liquid drop and flat surfaces when the adhesion is too large to be measured with an AFM [10]. Indeed, in general, adhesion between liquids and solids can be high. However, interactions between a liquid probe and supersolvophobic or highly patterned