Slattery Ashley D, Shearer Cameron J, Shapter Joseph G, Quinton Jamie S, Gibson Christopher T
Flinders Centre for NanoScale Science and Technology, College of Science and Engineering, Flinders University, Bedford Park, SA 5042, Australia.
Adelaide Microscopy, The University of Adelaide, Adelaide, SA 5005, Australia.
Nanomaterials (Basel). 2017 Oct 25;7(11):346. doi: 10.3390/nano7110346.
High aspect ratio carbon nanotubes are ideal candidates to improve the resolution and lifetime of atomic force microscopy (AFM) probes. Here, we present simple methods for the preparation of carbon nanotube modified AFM probes utilising solvent evaporation or dielectrophoresis. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) of the modified probes shows that the carbon nanotubes attach to the probe apex as fibres and display a high aspect ratio. Many of the probes made in this manner were initially found to exhibit anomalous feedback characteristics during scanning, which rendered them unsuitable for imaging. However, we further developed and demonstrated a simple method to stabilise the carbon nanotube fibres by scanning with high force in tapping mode, which either shortens or straightens the carbon fibre, resulting in stable and high quality imaging AFM imaging.
高纵横比的碳纳米管是提高原子力显微镜（AFM）探针分辨率和使用寿命的理想选择。在此，我们介绍了利用溶剂蒸发或介电泳制备碳纳米管修饰AFM探针的简单方法。对修饰后的探针进行扫描电子显微镜（SEM）观察表明，碳纳米管以纤维形式附着在探针尖端，并呈现出高纵横比。最初发现，许多以这种方式制备的探针在扫描过程中表现出异常的反馈特性，使其不适用于成像。然而，我们进一步开发并展示了一种简单的方法，即在轻敲模式下以高力进行扫描来稳定碳纳米管纤维，这会使碳纤维缩短或变直，从而实现稳定且高质量的AFM成像。
