Nanoscale spatial mapping of mechanical properties through dynamic atomic force microscopy

• Zahra Abooalizadeh,
• Leszek Josef Sudak and
• Philip Egberts

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1332–1347, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.132

• with the HOPG surface. The HOPG surface was scanned under a constant preload force, modulation frequency, and drive signal while the amplitude and phase response of the cantilever were recorded simultaneously with the topography and the lateral force signals using a digital lock-in amplifier supplied

• response of the cantilever were simultaneously recorded with the topography and the lateral force signals using a digital lock-in amplifier supplied with the RHK R9 controller. The calibration of the detected variations in amplitude and phase into elastic and loss modulus with high accuracy requires a good

• topography, environmental contamination, the Schwoebel–Ehrlich barrier, energy dissipation through viscoelastic energy losses, applied normal force, tip shape, and modulation frequency (both for CR and FMM modes). Each examination will show that the elastic modulus measured in the previous section is

Imaging the surface potential at the steps on the rutile TiO₂(110) surface by Kelvin probe force microscopy

• Masato Miyazaki,
• Huan Fei Wen,
• Quanzhen Zhang,
• Yuuki Adachi,
• Jan Brndiar,
• Ivan Štich,
• Yan Jun Li and
• Yasuhiro Sugawara

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1228–1236, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.122

• the fAC component of the electrostatic force, providing the CPD value (VCPD). The topography and CPD were measured sequentially using the lift-mode technique to minimize crosstalk [47]. In this scanning mode, the topography (z) is scanned in the first trace using AFM and immediately retraced with a

• about 70 mV, which is consistent with a previous study, in which surfaces with a high step density were found to have a lower work function than surfaces with a low step density [28]. The drop in CPD at the steps is not due to a feedback error since the forward and backward curves of the topography and

• , which is the opposite behavior to the decrease in CPD at the steps (Figure 2c and Figure 2e). Therefore, we can rule out the influence of an unintentional increase of the tip–sample distance. In addition, the influence of the electrostatic force on the topography measurements has been investigated. As a

Influence of dielectric layer thickness and roughness on topographic effects in magnetic force microscopy

• Alexander Krivcov,
• Jasmin Ehrler,
• Marc Fuhrmann,
• Tanja Junkers and
• Hildegard Möbius

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1056–1064, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.106

• structures with submicrometer resolution [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8]. Although the MFM signals in the so-called interleave mode are taken at a certain distance (lift height) from the sample, following the topography of the sample measured in a first scan, a total force is measured with unknown contributions

• effect. During the imaging of nanoparticles a mirroring of the topography is often observed in MFM phase images [15][16][17][18]. Neves et al. [15] distinguished between magnetic and nonmagnetic nanoparticles by applying an external bias to the tip minimizing the topographical influence of the sample

• . Without an external tip bias a positive phase shift in the MFM image was reported for the nonmagnetic nanoparticles. Passeri et al. [19] also observed a positive phase shift for nonmagnetic niosomes in the MFM phase image. Angeloni et al. [16] discussed the topography-induced positive phase shift for

Revisiting semicontinuous silver films as surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy substrates

• Malwina Liszewska,
• Bogusław Budner,
• Małgorzata Norek,
• Bartłomiej J. Jankiewicz and
• Piotr Nyga

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1048–1055, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.105

• and white and metal coverage was calculated. The AFM maps were collected using an NTEGRA atomic force microscope from NT-MDT company. The surface topography measurements were made in semi-contact mode. We used HA_NC ETALON (NT-MDT) probe with 140 kHz ± 10% resonant frequency, force constant of 3.5 N/m

Tailoring the stability/aggregation of one-dimensional TiO₂(B)/titanate nanowires using surfactants

• Atiđa Selmani,
• Johannes Lützenkirchen,
• Kristina Kučanda,
• Dario Dabić,
• Engelbert Redel,
• Ida Delač Marion,
• Damir Kralj,
• Darija Domazet Jurašin and
• Maja Dutour Sikirić

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1024–1037, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.103

• resolution of the Raman spectrometer was 4 cm−1. The morphology of the TNWs was visualized by using high-resolution scanning electron microscopy Zeiss HR-SEM (Gemini Class) at 3–5 kV. AFM imaging was performed with a Nanosurf Flex AFM in dynamic force mode (simultaneously acquiring topography, amplitude and

In situ AFM visualization of Li–O₂ battery discharge products during redox cycling in an atmospherically controlled sample cell

• Kumar Virwani,
• Younes Ansari,
• Khanh Nguyen,
• Francisco José Alía Moreno-Ortiz,
• Jangwoo Kim,
• Maxwell J. Giammona,
• Ho-Cheol Kim and
• Young-Hye La

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 930–940, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.94

• rather than for the highest capacity. The main aim was to obtain electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS), discharge/recharge voltages and capacities time-domain-correlated with AFM images of topography, all in a completely atmospherically isolated and controlled setting. In our recent study [30

• charge transfer resistance, improves the kinetics of the reaction. Topographical observations using AFM AFM was used to monitor morphological changes on the glassy carbon cathode surface. The topography images in Figure 3 and Figure 4 each show one of the nine scanned regions at two different water

• water concentrations the discharge and recharge currents were 5 µA. Figure 3 shows AFM topography images scanned on the glassy carbon surface with electrolyte containing <20 ppm of H2O. Prior to the start of the discharge reaction in Figure 3a at an open-circuit potential of 2.921 V, the surface of the

Nanoscale optical and structural characterisation of silk

• Meguya Ryu,
• Reo Honda,
• Adrian Cernescu,
• Arturas Vailionis,
• Armandas Balčytis,
• Jitraporn Vongsvivut,
• Jing-Liang Li,
• Denver P. Linklater,
• Elena P. Ivanova,
• Vygantas Mizeikis,
• Mark J. Tobin,
• Junko Morikawa and
• Saulius Juodkazis

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 922–929, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.93

• diffractometer using a Cu Kα microfocus X-ray source with λ = 1.5418 Å (Figure 2a). IR spectral measurements The sub-diffraction scattering scanning near-field optical microscope (s-SNOM, neaspec GmbH) uses a metalized atomic force microscopy (AFM) tip. The tip maps the surface relief (topography) by its basic

Rapid, ultraviolet-induced, reversibly switchable wettability of superhydrophobic/superhydrophilic surfaces

• Yunlu Pan,
• Wenting Kong,
• Bharat Bhushan and
• Xuezeng Zhao

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 866–873, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.87

• solid surfaces governed by surface chemistry and surface topography [1][2] and has found significant applications in various fields [3][4][5][6][7][8]. Controllable wettability that can be enabled through external stimuli, such as illumination, electric fields or heating, can be applied in chemical

Review of time-resolved non-contact electrostatic force microscopy techniques with applications to ionic transport measurements

• Aaron Mascaro,
• Yoichi Miyahara,
• Tyler Enright,
• Omur E. Dagdeviren and
• Peter Grütter

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 617–633, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.62

• time constants, τ, and stretching factors, β. “(a) Calibration curve for a range of characteristic times of exponential decay (τ) (inset shows a zoom-in for shorter times). (b) Topography

Ultraviolet patterns of flowers revealed in polymer replica – caused by surface architecture

• Anna J. Schulte,
• Matthias Mail,
• Lisa A. Hahn and
• Wilhelm Barthlott

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 459–466, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.45

• topography on the appearance of UV-patterns, we investigated the interaction between UV-light and the surface structures of three different plant species in this study. To consider several diverse surface structures we chose three species with distinct UV-patterns and different surface structures, for

• is described in Koch et al. [39] and is a suitable technique for the transfer of the surface topography of soft and fragile plant material to a rigid material in high precision down to the nanometer scale. Results and Discussion Images of flowers under environmental conditions were taken in the VIS

Advanced scanning probe lithography using anatase-to-rutile transition to create localized TiO₂ nanorods

• Julian Kalb,
• Vanessa Knittel and
• Lukas Schmidt-Mende

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 412–418, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.40

• probe lithography was performed with an Innova AFM (Bruker) in contact mode. The applied force was significantly higher than usually chosen for topography scanning. We used OTESPA-R3 (Bruker AFM probes) silicon tips with a spring constant of approximately 26 N/m. Based on the spring constant, we

Biocompatible organic–inorganic hybrid materials based on nucleobases and titanium developed by molecular layer deposition

• Leva Momtazi,
• Henrik H. Sønsteby and
• Ola Nilsen

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 399–411, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.39

• density of the systems were measured after 15 minutes of water treatment (Table 3), indicating some variations in index of refraction, but relatively small variations in film density between the different systems. The surface topography of films as-deposited on Si(100) and after being immersed in water

• increase during growth measured by QCM using TTIP and thymine (at 225 °C) (top graph), uracil (at 225 °C) (top graph), or adenine (250 °C) (bottom graph), and water. The shaded area represents the statistical variation during 16 cycles. Surface topography as measured by AFM for films deposited using TTIP

Intuitive human interface to a scanning tunnelling microscope: observation of parity oscillations for a single atomic chain

• Sumit Tewari,
• Jacob Bakermans,
• Christian Wagner,
• Federica Galli and
• Jan M. van Ruitenbeek

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 337–348, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.33

• different stages of the experiment are shown. Here, similar to before, the topography colour scale is tuned to show a smaller apparent size of the adatoms ‘A’, ‘B’ or ‘C’. Next, using the geometric technique explained earlier, the background atoms are determined and three fixed positions on the surface ‘i

• show STM images with the topography colour scale tuned to reduce the apparent size of the two adatoms to match the superimposed surface lattice pattern. The full apparent size of Au adatoms on Au(111) is around 1 nm as shown in Figure 2b. (a) shows the two possible triangular hollow adsorption sites

• positioning (energetically favourable) of the adatoms with reference to the surface lattice. (a, c, e) show the STM images with the topography colour scale tuned to show a smaller apparent size of the adatoms ‘A’, ‘B’ or ‘C’. The scale bar in the bottom-right corner is 1 nm. The other three panels (b, d, f

Scanning probe microscopy for energy-related materials

• Rüdiger Berger,
• Benjamin Grévin,
• Philippe Leclère and
• Yi Zhang

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 132–134, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.12

• significant role for the in-operando characterization. SPM methods offer a plethora of operation modes beyond topography imaging, which is well reflected in the articles of this thematic issue. The majority of contributions stem from research on photovoltaic materials. Here, electrical conductive atomic force

Contact splitting in dry adhesion and friction: reducing the influence of roughness

• Jae-Kang Kim and
• Michael Varenberg

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2019, 10, 1–8, doi:10.3762/bjnano.10.1

• adaptability of the split microstructure to wavy surfaces allows it to form larger contact area (Figure 3) on the surfaces with intermediate roughness, thus leading to a better attachment. In addition to its better ability to adapt to uneven surface topography, a split microstructure may also demonstrate

• statistically equal fractions of the split flap peel at angles θ − α and θ + α, respectively, with α being a small perturbation angle defined by the surface topography. In this case, solving the Kendall equation ((2) in [44]) yields where F is the peeling force, b is the film width, d is the film thickness, E

• that splitting the adhesive microstructure in parallel to the peeling force may improve the attachment ability not only due to better adaptation to surface topography, but also due to the effective decrease of the peeling angle. The friction force measured at the point of sliding inception on all

Characterization and influence of hydroxyapatite nanopowders on living cells

• Przemyslaw Oberbek,
• Tomasz Bolek,
• Adrian Chlanda,
• Seishiro Hirano,
• Sylwia Kusnieruk,
• Julia Rogowska-Tylman,
• Ganna Nechyporenko,
• Viktor Zinchenko,
• Wojciech Swieszkowski and
• Tomasz Puzyn

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 3079–3094, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.286

• done taking into account at least 15 different agglomerates for each sample. Atomic force microscopy Atomic force microscope (AFM) was used for topography imaging, surface evaluation at the nanoscale and evaluation of the particle shapes [35]. The sample preparation protocol was as follows: A water

• suspension of nanopowder was prepared at a concentration of 0.1 mg/mL. A droplet of the suspension was dripped onto the surface of a freshly cleaved mica disc (Ted Pella) and left in a vacuum dryer (VO 200, Memmert) for 1 h prior to imaging. Topography measurements were made in air. 1 µm × 1 µm scans were

• quantitative analysis of nanopowders [54]. AFM allowed for 3D topography reconstruction and phase-contrast acquisition yielding for deeper insight into nanoscale features of the tested materials. It is important to note that nanoparticle imaging requires scanning probes with a small tip radius, otherwise the

Electrostatic force microscopy for the accurate characterization of interphases in nanocomposites

• Diana El Khoury,
• Richard Arinero,
• Jean-Charles Laurentie,
• Mikhaël Bechelany,
• Michel Ramonda and
• Jérôme Castellon

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2999–3012, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.279

• . Based on these findings, we developed three experimental approaches in which different model samples were compared to detect and characterize the interphase in a nanodielectric model composed of particle + interphase + matrix. In all the tested model samples, the particle topography could be determined

• “real” nanocomposite systems, using mechanical scanning probe microscopy techniques [29][30][31], and EFM [26][27][32][33]. Moreover, discriminating the particles from the topography is important in the case of nanocomposites that include particles and matrix with low dielectric permittivity difference

• sample dimensions and permittivity values should be relatively small, the statistical analysis was performed using EFM measurements acquired on 12 × 3 µm2 images based on an average of 30 particles [37]. The calculated average topography and electrical frequency shift (2ω − Δf0) profiles for PS + 100 nm

Size limits of magnetic-domain engineering in continuous in-plane exchange-bias prototype films

• Alexander Gaul,
• Daniel Emmrich,
• Timo Ueltzhöffer,
• Henning Huckfeldt,
• Hatice Doğanay,
• Johanna Hackl,
• Muhammad Imtiaz Khan,
• Daniel M. Gottlob,
• Gregor Hartmann,
• André Beyer,
• Dennis Holzinger,
• Slavomír Nemšák,
• Claus M. Schneider,
• Armin Gölzhäuser,
• Günter Reiss and
• Arno Ehresmann

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2968–2979, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.276

• . These settings were chosen from preliminary experiments as a trade-off between lateral charge-contrast resolution and minimal signal overlap from the sample topography. Additionally, an SIS ULTRAObjective in non-contact/lift mode with a lift height of 100 nm and a pixel size of 200 nm was applied for

Investigation of CVD graphene as-grown on Cu foil using simultaneous scanning tunneling/atomic force microscopy

• Majid Fazeli Jadidi,
• Umut Kamber,
• Oğuzhan Gürlü and
• H. Özgür Özer

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2953–2959, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.274

• /hollow sites. We obtained different contrast between force and STM topography images for atomic features. A honeycomb pattern showing all six carbon atoms is revealed in AFM images. In one contrast type, simultaneously acquired STM topography revealed hollow sites to be brighter. In another, a triangular

• array with maxima located in between the two carbon atoms was acquired in STM topography. Keywords: atomic force microscopy; CVD graphene; scanning tunneling microscopy; simultaneous operation; small amplitude; Introduction Graphene has been widely studied because of its potential use in future

• taken on several samples showed the presence of dominantly single-layer graphene [36]. Results and Discussion We used a custom-made tungsten tip–cantilever probe [32] the stiffness of which was estimated from thermal oscillations to be about 53 N/m. The simultaneously acquired STM topography and force

In situ characterization of nanoscale contaminations adsorbed in air using atomic force microscopy

• Jesús S. Lacasa,
• Lisa Almonte and
• Jaime Colchero

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2925–2935, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.271

• order to access material properties (“chemical information”, thus the name spectroscopy) [12]. AFM allows not only the measurement of surface topography, but also the determination of other physical characteristics; in particular electrostatic [13][14][15] and magnetic properties [16][17]. For reliable

• and the macroscopic chip to which it is attached (typical size 2 × 4 mm2), is moved by the scanning motion of the piezoelectric element. Topography and electrostatic images of cleaned and uncleaned cantilevers: accessing materials properties Topographic images as shown in Figure 1 are quite valuable

• thus of type “uncleaned-new”, which is “almost clean”, as discussed below in more detail. Figure 2 shows the topography (a), the error signal of the feedback (frequency shift, (b)), the electrostatic capacity signal (EAFM2ν, see Experimental section, (c)) as well as the contact potential (e), which are

Charged particle single nanometre manufacturing

• Philip D. Prewett,
• Cornelis W. Hagen,
• Claudia Lenk,
• Steve Lenk,
• Marcus Kaestner,
• Tzvetan Ivanov,
• Ahmad Ahmad,
• Ivo W. Rangelow,
• Xiaoqing Shi,
• Stuart A. Boden,
• Alex P. G. Robinson,
• Dongxu Yang,
• Sangeetha Hari,
• Marijke Scotuzzi and
• Ejaz Huq

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2855–2882, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.266

• -point. Since the oscillation amplitude depends on the force between tip and sample, its variation is a direct indicator for the topography and material properties of the sample. Tools that combine both feedback loops, i.e., current and force, are

Controlling surface morphology and sensitivity of granular and porous silver films for surface-enhanced Raman scattering, SERS

• Sherif Okeil and
• Jörg J. Schneider

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2813–2831, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.263

• silver films were characterized using atomic force microscopy (AFM) in contact mode on a CP-II AFM (Bruker-Veeco) with SiC cantilevers to determine the topography and surface roughness (root mean square roughness, Rq). Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of the silver films was performed on a Philips XL

Biomimetic surface structures in steel fabricated with femtosecond laser pulses: influence of laser rescanning on morphology and wettability

• Camilo Florian Baron,
• Alexandros Mimidis,
• Daniel Puerto,
• Evangelos Skoulas,
• Emmanuel Stratakis,
• Javier Solis and
• Jan Siegel

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2802–2812, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.262

• surface topography needs to be mimicked, but often also a specific function of the structure. An alternative approach to laser direct writing of complex structures is the generation of laser-induced periodic surface structures (LIPSS), which is based on directed self-organization of the material and

• objective to reproduce not only the geometry and morphology of structures found in natural systems, but – most importantly – their specific functionality. Biomimetic applications that aim to control the wetting properties of a material surface must take into account the surface topography, since it strongly

• dependence of surface wetting on surface energy and topography makes it particularly difficult to predict the wetting scenario, knowledge of the apparent contact angle alone is often sufficient for practical applications. For the particular case of steel, it is known that the laser-processed material evolves

Low cost tips for tip-enhanced Raman spectroscopy fabricated by two-step electrochemical etching of 125 µm diameter gold wires

• Antonino Foti,
• Francesco Barreca,
• Enza Fazio,
• Cristiano D’Andrea,
• Paolo Matteini,
• Onofrio Maria Maragò and
• Pietro Giuseppe Gucciardi

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2718–2729, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.254

• resolution in TERS imaging Nanoscale resolution is shown in simultaneous morphological (STM) and chemical (TERS) mapping of R6G molecules (10−4 M) absorbed on Au(111). Experiments are carried out in gap-mode, with excitation at 638 nm. Figure 9a shows the STM topography acquired on a 300 × 300 nm2 area with

Disorder in H⁺-irradiated HOPG: effect of impinging energy and dose on Raman D-band splitting and surface topography

• Lisandro Venosta,
• Noelia Bajales,
• Sergio Suárez and
• Paula G. Bercoff

Beilstein J. Nanotechnol. 2018, 9, 2708–2717, doi:10.3762/bjnano.9.253

• engineering in carbon-based materials. Keywords: disorder; highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG); ion–solid interactions; Raman spectroscopy; topography; Introduction The development of novel methods to control the properties of carbon-based materials by introducing disorder is currently a subject of

• tapping mode. Standard Si cantilevers with sharp tips were used for high-resolution topography imaging and the software Gwyddion 2.36 was used for image analyses. Results and Discussion Raman characterization Figure 1 compares the Raman spectra after excitation with a laser wavelength of 514 nm

• matrix, in bubbles or blisters located amongst the graphene layers. The defective topography of the irradiated samples observed in Figure 5b,c is interpreted as a consequence of the bursting of H blisters. Taking into account the work of Waqar et al. [22], we have estimated the pressure inside one of