A combined scanning electrochemical-atomic force microscope (SECM-AFM) has been used to probe the diffusional transport of target electroactive solutes in isolated nanopores of a track-etched membrane. A polycarbonate membrane (100-nm-diam pore size) hydrated with an electrolyte solution, containing a redox-active probe molecule, such as IrCl6(3-) or Fe(phen)3(2+), functions as the model membra...

Models in which the gravitational and gauge interactions are unified at ∼ 1 TeV lead to the possibility that large extra dimensions would produce Yukawa-type corrections to the Newtonian gravitational law at small distances. In some models with n = 3 extra dimensions, deviations from Newto-nian gravity would occur at separations ∼ 5 nm, a distance scale accessible to an atomic force microscope ...

A novel dual tip nanomanipulation atomic force microscope (AFM) platform operating in ambient conditions is presented. The system is equipped with a high frequency quartz piezoelectric self-sensing scanning probe for fast imaging and a passive cantilever for manipulation. The system is validated by imaging and selective pushing/pulling of gold colloid beads (diameters from 80 to 180 nm). This p...

We present theory and experiments for the force-distance curve F(z(0)) of an atomic force microscope (AFM) tip (radius R) indenting a supported fluid bilayer (thickness 2d). For realistic conditions the force is dominated by the area compressibility modulus κ(A) of the bilayer and, to an excellent approximation, given by F=πκ(A)Rz(0)(2)/(2d-z(0))(2). The experimental AFM force curves from coexi...

Magnéli-type vanadium oxides form the homologous series V(n)O(2) (n) (-1) and exhibit a temperature-induced, reversible metal-insulator first order phase transition (MIT). We studied the change of the adhesion force across the transition temperature between the cleavage planes of various vanadium oxide Magnéli phases (n = 3 … 7) and spherical titanium atomic force microscope (AFM) tips by syste...

We present a procedure to perform and interpret pull-off force measurements during the jump-off-contact process between a liquid drop and rough surfaces using a conventional atomic force microscope. In this method, a micrometric liquid mercury drop is attached to an AFM tipless cantilever to measure the force required to pull this drop off a rough surface. We test the method with two surfaces: ...

A fast atomic force microscope (AFM) has been developed that can be installed as a sample holder for grazing-incidence X-ray experiments at solid/gas or solid/liquid interfaces. It allows a wide range of possible investigations, including soft and biological samples under physiological conditions (hydrated specimens). The structural information obtained using the X-rays is combined with the dat...

Experiments on Highly Oriented Pyrolytic Graphite (HOPG) demonstrate that ultrasonic-assisted actuation with the tip of an Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) cantilever can induce stacking modifications and folding of triangular-shaped HOPG surface flakes. We have generated permanent displacements of buried dislocations that require stacking changes of extended graphene layers by repeatedly scanning...

Graphene, the crystalline allotrope of Carbon has phenomenal electrical properties and hence a number of application prospects. Multi-Layered Graphene (MLG) has tremendous application prospects as gas sensors. Thermal CVD performed at atmospheric pressure is a very simple and affordable synthesis technique for growing MLG. In this project we characterized Thermal-CVD grown MLG films with the At...

Analysis of specific gene expression in single living cells may become an important technique for cell biology. So far, no method has been available to detect mRNA in living cells without killing or destroying them. We have developed here a novel method to examine gene expression of living cells using an atomic force microscope (AFM). AFM tip was inserted into living cells to extract mRNAs. The...