Approaching the liquid/air interface with scanning force microscopy

Research output: Contribution to journalResearch articleContributedpeer-review

Contributors

  • L. M. Eng - , ETH Zurich (Author)
  • Ch Seuret - , ETH Zurich (Author)
  • H. Looser - , ETH Zurich (Author)
  • P. Günter - , ETH Zurich (Author)

Abstract

Scanning force microscopy at both the air/solid and the liquid/solid interface is very common and understood accurately. Here we demonstrate that the scanning force microscope (SFM) is capable of investigating even at the liquid/air interface, i.e., the surface of a Langmuir film floating on the water subphase. We demonstrate the successful investigation of (a) a solid substrate surface, i.e., a polycrystalline gold sample under water, (b) a mechanically stabilized 2-docosylamino-5-nitropyridine Langmuir-Blodgett (LB) film, and (c) a freely floating cadmium-arachidate (CdA) LB film. The SFM is constructed as a standalone, remote-controlled, and water-tight microscope that can be put upside down into the water subphase of a commercial LB trough. The SFM tip therefore approaches the air/water interface from underwater allowing the investigation of the LB chromophores. This force microscope complements our optical techniques (polarization and second-harmonic microscopy) that have already been set up on top of the LB trough and that achieve monolayer resolution on a floating Langmuir layer. Combined operation of all those techniques will provide correlated information on the optical and structural properties of the LB molecules.

Details

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1386-1389
Number of pages4
JournalJournal of Vacuum Science and Technology B: Microelectronics and Nanometer Structures
Volume14
Issue number2
Publication statusPublished - 1996
Peer-reviewedYes
Externally publishedYes

External IDs

ORCID /0000-0002-2484-4158/work/175744125