MikroMasch rotated AFM tipsMon Jul 27 2020
When mounted at the standard 13⁰ angle in the AFM, the front and back edges of MikroMasch rotated AFM tips form the same 20⁰ angle to the vertical. This allows more symmetric visualization of topography features than when using non-rotated tips.
Happy birthday to Gerd BinnigMon Jul 20 2020
Happy birthday to Nobel prize laureate Gerd Binnig, coinventor of the Scanning Tunneling Microscope
and the Atomic Force Microscope!
Nanotools biosphere™ AFM probes applied to study the mechanical properties of #PDMS filmsWed Jul 15 2020
Discover how nanotools biosphere™ AFM probes with precisely controlled 500 nm radius and pre-calibrated cantilevers is applied to study the mechanical properties of #PDMS films in the latest nanotools blogpost
Gentle plasma process for embedded silver-nanowire flexible transparent electrodes on temperature-sensitive polymer substratesTue Jul 14 2020
In the article “Gentle plasma process for embedded silver-nanowire flexible transparent electrodes on temperature-sensitive polymer substrates “ Lukas Kinner, Emil J W List-Kratochvil and Theodoros Dimopoulos investigate processing routes to obtain highly conductive and transparent electrodes of silver nanowires (AgNWs) on flexible polyethylene terephthalate (PET) substrate.*
Their study shows that both thermally stable polyimide, as well as temperature-sensitive PET can be used as flexible host substrates, combined with a gentle, AgNW plasma curing. This is possible by adjusting the fabrication sequence to accommodate the plasma curing step, depending on the host substrate. As a result, embedded AgNW electrodes, transferred from polyimide-to-PET and from PET-to-PET are obtained, with optical transmittance of ~80% (including the substrate) and sheet resistance of ~13 Ω/sq., similar to electrodes transferred from glass-to-glass substrates.*
The embedded AgNW electrodes on PET show superior performance in bending tests, as compared to indium-tin-oxide electrodes and can be easily combined with metal oxide films for device implementation. The introduced approach, involving low-cost flexible substrates, AgNW spray-coating and plasma curing, is compatible with high-throughput, roll-to-roll processing.*
The impact of the introduced processes concerns therefore applications where high-throughput production must be combined with sensitive, flexible substrates and ultra-thin device architectures, like OLEDs and organic- or perovskite-based photovoltaics.*
The sample surfaces were characterized with atomic force microscopy (AFM) in tapping mode, using high-resolution NANOSENSORS™ SuperSharpSilicon™ SSS-NCHR AFM probes. https://www.nanosensors.com/supersharpsilicon-non-contact…
Please have a look at the NANOSENSORS blog for the full citation and a direct link to the full article
Human ESCRT-III polymers assemble on positively curved membranes and induce helical membrane tube formationMon Jul 06 2020
The Endosomal Sorting Complex Required for Transport-III (ESCRT-III) is part of a conserved membrane remodeling machine. ESCRT-III employs polymer formation to catalyze inside-out membrane fission processes in a large variety of cellular processes, including budding of endosomal vesicles and enveloped viruses, cytokinesis, nuclear envelope reformation, plasma membrane repair, exosome formation, neuron pruning, dendritic spine maintenance, and preperoxisomal vesicle biogenesis.*
How membrane shape influences ESCRT-III polymerization and how ESCRT-III shapes membranes is yet unclear.*
In the article “Human ESCRT-III polymers assemble on positively curved membranes and induce helical membrane tube formation” Aurélie Bertin, Nicola de Franceschi, Eugenio de la Mora, Sourav Maity, Maryam Alqabandi, Nolwen Miguet, Aurélie di Cicco, Wouter H. Roos, Stéphanie Mangenot, Winfried Weissenhorn and Patricia Bassereau describe how human core ESCRT-III proteins, CHMP4B, CHMP2A, CHMP2B and CHMP3 are used to address this issue in vitro by combining membrane nanotube pulling experiments, cryo-electron tomography and Atomic Force Microscopy.*
The authors show that CHMP4B filaments preferentially bind to flat membranes or to tubes with positive mean curvature.*
The results presented in the article cited above underline the versatile membrane remodeling activity of ESCRT-III that may be a general feature required for cellular membrane remodeling processes.*
The authors provide novel insight on how mechanics and geometry of the membrane and of ESCRT-III assemblies can generate forces to shape a membrane neck.*
NanoWorld Ultra-Short AFM Cantilevers USC-F1.2-k0.15 were used for the High-speed Atomic Force Microscopy ( HS-AFM ) experiments presented in this article.* https://www.nanoworld.com/Ultra-Short-Cantilevers-USC-F1.2…
Please have a look at the NanoWorld blog for the full citation and a direct link to the full article.
A two-step method for rate-dependent nano-indentation of hydrogelsFri Jul 03 2020
Two-step method for accurate alignment of finite-rate nanoindentation curves on hydrogels using a colloidal AFM probe based on our MikroMasch NSC36/tipless/Cr-Au
Studying nanomechanical properties of primary cell walls in the inner tissues of growing plant organsMon Jun 29 2020
Discover how nanotools biosphere™ #AFMprobes with precisely controlled 100 nm radius and pre-calibrated cantilevers are applied for imaging and nanoindentation of plant cell walls in the latest nanotools blogpost https://www.nanotools.com/…/studying-nanomechanical…
Development of a Lidocaine-Loaded Alginate/CMC/PEO Electrospun Nanofiber Film and Application as an Anti-Adhesion BarrierThu Jun 25 2020
Surgery, particularly open surgery, is known to cause tissue/organ adhesion during healing. These adhesions occur through contact between the surgical treatment site and other organ, bone, or abdominal sites. Fibrous bands can form in unnecessary contact areas and cause various complications. Consequently, film- and gel-type anti-adhesion agents have been developed. The development of sustained drug delivery systems is very important for disease treatment and prevention.*
In “Development of a Lidocaine-Loaded Alginate/CMC/PEO Electrospun Nanofiber Film and Application as an Anti-Adhesion Barrier” Seungho Baek, Heekyung Park, Youngah Park, Hyun Kang and Donghyun Lee describe how the drug release behavior was controlled by crosslinking lidocaine-loaded alginate/carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC)/polyethylene oxide (PEO) nanofiber films prepared by electrospinning.*
Lidocaine is mainly used as an anesthetic and is known to have anti-adhesion effects.*
Based on the results presented in the article, this study shows that the drug release behavior can be controlled by using CaCl2 as a nontoxic crosslinking agent to produce a good anti-adhesion barrier that can prevent unnecessary tissue adhesion at a surgical site.*
The authors selected atomic force microscopy (AFM) using NANOSENSORS™ PointProbe® Plus PPP-NCHR AFM cantilevers to analyze the electrospun films.* https://www.nanosensors.com/pointprobe-plus-non-contact…
Please have a look at the NANOSENSORS blog for the full citation and a direct link to the full article.
BudgetSensors® SiNi AFM probes used to examine cell stiffness.Wed Jun 24 2020
Тhe role of ezrin phosphorylation on cell motility, cytoskeleton organization and mechanical properties. BudgetSensors® SiNi AFM probes used to examine cell stiffness.
Chemical switching of low-loss phonon polaritons in α-MoO3 by hydrogen intercalationTue Jun 23 2020
Chemical switching of low-loss phonon polaritons in α-MoO3 by hydrogen intercalation
Phonon polaritons (PhPs) have attracted significant interest in the nano-optics communities because of their nanoscale confinement and long lifetimes. Although PhP modification by changing the local dielectric environment has been reported, controlled manipulation of PhPs by direct modification of the polaritonic material itself has remained elusive.*
In the article “Chemical switching of low-loss phonon polaritons in α-MoO3 by hydrogen intercalation” Yingjie Wu, Qingdong Ou, Yuefeng Yin, Yun Li, Weiliang Ma, Wenzhi Yu, Guanyu Liu, Xiaoqiang Cui, Xiaozhi Bao, Jiahua Duan, Gonzalo Álvarez-Pérez, Zhigao Dai, Babar Shabbir, Nikhil Medhekar, Xiangping Li, Chang-Ming Li, Pablo Alonso-González and Qiaoliang Bao demonstrate an effective chemical approach to manipulate PhPs in α-MoO3 by the hydrogen intercalation-induced perturbation of lattice vibrations.*
Their methodology establishes a proof of concept for chemically manipulating polaritons, offering opportunities for the growing nanophotonics community.*
The surface topography and near-field images presented in this article were captured using a commercial s-SNOM setup with a platinum iridium coated NanoWorld Arrow-NCPt AFM probe in tapping mode.* https://www.nanoworld.com/tapping-mode-platinum-coated-afm…
Please have a look at the Nanoworld blog for the full citation and a direct link to the full article
Combined SIM and AFM platform for the life sciencesMon Jun 22 2020
Correlating data from different microscopy techniques holds the potential to discover new facets of signalling events in cellular biology.*
In the article “Simultaneous co-localized super-resolution fluorescence microscopy and atomic force microscopy: combined SIM and AFM platform for the life sciences” Ana I. Gómez-Varela, Dimitar R. Stamov, Adelaide Miranda, Rosana Alves, Cláudia Barata-Antunes, Daphné Dambournet, David G. Drubin, Sandra Paiva and Pieter A. A. De Beule report for the first time a hardware set-up capable of achieving simultaneous co-localized imaging of spatially correlated far-field super-resolution fluorescence microscopy and atomic force microscopy, a feat only obtained until now by fluorescence microscopy set-ups with spatial resolution restricted by the Abbe diffraction limit.*
The authors detail system integration and demonstrate system performance using sub-resolution fluorescent beads and applied to a test sample consisting of human bone osteosarcoma epithelial cells, with plasma membrane transporter 1 (MCT1) tagged with an enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) at the N-terminal.*
The simultaneous operation of AFM and super-resolution fluorescence microscopy technique provides a powerful observational tool on the nanoscale, albeit data acquisition is typically obstructed by a series of integration problems. The authors of the above-mentioned article believe that the combination of SR-SIM with AFM presents one of the most promising schemes enabling simultaneous co-localized imaging, allowing the recording of nanomechanical data and cellular dynamics visualization at the same time.*
For measurements on cells in liquid NANOSENSORS™ uniqprobe qp-BioAC-CI AFM probes ( CB1 ) with a nominal resonance frequency of 90 kHz (in air), spring constant of 0.3 Nm−1, partial gold coating on the detector side, and quartz-like circular symmetric hyperbolic (double-concaved) tips with ROC of 30 nm were used. The corresponding AFM areas for the cell images were acquired with a Z-cantilever velocity of 250 μms−1 at a max Z-length of 1.5 μm, resulting in an acquisition time (based on the number of pixels) for Figs. 2, 3, 4 of ca. 13, 8 and 15 min respectively.* https://www.nanosensors.com/uniqprobe-uniform-quality-bioac…
Please have a look at the NANOSENSORS blog for the full citation and a direct link to the full article
How to search for AFM probes?Fri Jun 19 2020
Check out our latest video
Nick Schacher is explaining the basic factors to consider before buying AFM probes.
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NanoAndMore goes South East AsiaWed Jun 17 2020
Crest Technology Pte Ltd and NanoAndMore form a strategic alliance for South East Asia. NanoAndMore South East Asia online presence will be uploaded on June 15th, 2020. Many decades of experience and expertise with Atomic Force Microscopy systems and AFM probes applications and sales of Crest Technology Pte Ltd will join forces with the online presence and marketing power of NanoAndMore. It will enable customers from Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Philippines, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam to easily browse and buy the widest selection of AFM probe brands and AFM tips from budget to research for all applications and measuring modes. "With the NanoAndMore South East Asia AFM probe online market platform which shows all vital information about the many hundreds of AFM probes we offer in a very accessible way we will be able to serve the application needs of our customers in South East Asia even better than before" said Marcus Chia, Director of Crest Technology. "After the successful implementation of the NanoAndMore concept in Europe, North and South America and Japan we, Crest Technology and NanoAndMore, are now very excited to also offer this service to our customers in South East Asia. We are convinced that this extended online tool will provide added benefit to the AFM users in this region" added Manfred Detterbeck, CEO of NanoWorld Holding AG. From now on you will have four region websites to choose from if you visit https://www.nanoandmore.com/
Probing Mid-Infrared Phonon PolaritonsTue Jun 09 2020
Probing Mid-Infrared Phonon Polaritons in the Aqueous Phase with MikroMasch HQ:NSC14/Cr-Au
Nanoparticle characterizationThu May 28 2020
Nanoparticle characterization using TERS and Force-Distance based AFM with the help of the tried-and-true BudgetSensors Tap190Al-G and Tap150Al-G AFM probes
Observation of a gel of quantum vortices in a superconductor at very low magnetic fieldsWed May 13 2020
A gel consists of a network of particles or molecules formed for example using the sol-gel process, by which a solution transforms into a porous solid. Particles or molecules in a gel are mainly organized on a scaffold that makes up a porous system. Quantized vortices in type-II superconductors mostly form spatially homogeneous ordered or amorphous solids. In the article “Observation of a gel of quantum vortices in a superconductor at very low magnetic fields” José Benito Llorens, Lior Embon, Alexandre Correa, Jesús David González, Edwin Herrera, Isabel Guillamón, Roberto F. Luccas, Jon Azpeitia, Federico J. Mompeán, Mar García-Hernández, Carmen Munuera, Jazmín Aragón Sánchez, Yanina Fasano, Milorad V. Milošević, Hermann Suderow and Yonathan Anahory present high-resolution imaging of the vortex lattice displaying dense vortex clusters separated by sparse or entirely vortex-free regions in β−Bi2Pd superconductor. The authors find that the intervortex distance diverges upon decreasing the magnetic field and that vortex lattice images follow a multifractal behavior. These properties, characteristic of gels, establish the presence of a novel vortex distribution, distinctly different from the well-studied disordered and glassy phases observed in high-temperature and conventional superconductors. The observed behavior is caused by a scaffold of one-dimensional structural defects with enhanced stress close to the defects. The vortex gel might often occur in type-II superconductors at low magnetic fields. Such vortex distributions should allow to considerably simplify control over vortex positions and manipulation of quantum vortex states. The results presented in the article show that vortices are nearly independent to each other at very low magnetic fields and that their position is locked to the defect structure in the sample. This suggests that vortices in this field range are also highly manipulable, much more than in usual hexagonal or disordered vortex lattices. The magnetic force microscopy (MFM) measurements described in the article were performed in a commercial Low-Temperature SPM equipment working in the 300–1.8 K temperature range using NANOSENSORS magnetic AFM probes of the type PPP-MFMR that were magnetized prior to the measurement by applying a magnetic field of 1500 G at 10 K. https://www.nanosensors.com/pointprobe-plus-magnetic-force-… Please have a look at the NANOSENSORS blog for the full citation and a direct link to the full article.#condensedmatterphysics #superconductors #电磁力显微镜 #AFMprobes
Cryopreservation of DNA Origami NanostructuresFri May 08 2020
Although DNA origami nanostructures have found their way into numerous fields of fundamental and applied research, they often suffer from rather limited stability when subjected to environments that differ from the employed assembly conditions, that is, suspended in Mg2+-containing buffer at moderate temperatures.* In the article “Cryopreservation of DNA Origami Nanostructures” Yang Xin, Charlotte Kielar, Siqi Zhu, Christoph Sikeler, Xiaodan Xu, Christin Möser, Guido Grundmeier, Tim Liedl, Amelie Heuer-Jungemann, David M. Smith and Adrian Keller investigate means for efficient cryopreservation of 2D and 3D DNA origami nanostructures and, in particular, the effect of repeated freezing and thawing. It is found that, while the 2D DNA origami nanostructures maintain their structural integrity over at least 32 freeze–thaw cycles, ice crystal formation makes the DNA origami gradually more sensitive toward harsh sample treatment conditions. * The cryoprotectants glycerol and trehalose are found to efficiently protect the DNA origami nanostructures against freeze damage at concentrations between 0.2 × 10−3and 200 × 10−3m and without any negative effects on DNA origami shape. This work thus provides a basis for the long-term storage of DNA origami nanostructures, which is an important prerequisite for various technological and medical applications. * NanoWorld Ultra-Short Cantilevers for High-Speed AFM USC-F0.3-k0.3 were used for the AFM imaging in liquid of the DNA origami sample described in this article. https://www.nanoworld.com/Ultra-Short-Cantilevers-USC-F0.3-… #cryoprotectants #biology #AFM探针 #原子間力顕微鏡 #ScanningProbeMicroscopy #DNAnanostructures
How to choose your AFM probe | Interview by NanoAndMoreTue May 05 2020
New to #AtomicForceMicroscopy ? Then don't forget to check out our video on how to choose the right #AFMprobe in the NanoAndMore Youtube channel. https://youtu.be/TcepH6fi5uk
Novel Pulsed Force KPFM techniqueMon May 04 2020
Novel Pulsed Force KPFM technique demonstrated using MikroMasch HQ:NSC15/Pt AFM probes
https://www.spmtips.com/afm-tip-hq-nsc15-pt https://pubs.acs.org/doi/10.1021
Nontoxic pyrite iron sulfide nanocrystals as second electron...Tue Apr 28 2020
Published new post (Nontoxic pyrite iron sulfide nanocrystals as second electron acceptor in PTB7:PC71BM-based organic photovoltaic cells) on NANOSENSORS Blog
Iron disulfide ( FeS2 ) is a natural earth-abundant and nontoxic material with possible applications in lithium batteries, transistors or photovoltaic (PV) devices. According to the analysis carried out by Wadia et al., among 23 semiconducting materials, FeS2 is the best candidate for the development of large-scale solar cells at low cost (<2 × 10−6 ¢/W). Furthermore, FeS2 exhibits excellent optoelectronic properties such as a band gap of 0.8 to 1.38 eV, a high optical absorption coefficient (2 × 105 cm−1), high carrier mobility (2 to 80 cm2/Vs) and a large charge carrier lifetime (200 ps). Therefore, FeS2 nanoparticles (NPs) can be a good alternative for PV applications.*
In “Nontoxic pyrite iron sulfide nanocrystals as second electron acceptor in PTB7:PC71BM-based organic photovoltaic cells “ Olivia Amargós-Reyes, José-Luis Maldonado, Omar Martínez-Alvarez, María-Elena Nicho, José Santos-Cruz, Juan Nicasio-Collazo, Irving Caballero-Quintana and Concepción Arenas-Arrocena report the synthesis of nontoxic pyrite iron sulfide ( FeS2 ) nanocrystals (NCs) using a two-pot method. Moreover, they study the influence of these NCs incorporated into the PTB7:PC71BM active layer of bulk-heterojunction ternary organic photovoltaic ( OPV ) cells.*
The AFM roughness images presented in this article were acquired in dynamic force mode using NANOSENSORS™ PointProbe® Plus PPP-NCLAu AFM probes. https://www.nanosensors.com/pointprobe-plus-non-contact-tap…
Please have a look at the NANOSENSORS blog for the full citation and a direct link to the full article.
#FeS2 #OPV #PTB7 #原子力显微镜探针 #AtomicForceMicroscopy #AFMカンチレバー
Highlights
AFM Probe Focus
best of the best
qp-HBC
uniqprobe™ - HeartBeat Cantilever for ScanAsyst®** and Peak Force Tapping™**
Coating:
Reflective Aluminum
Tip Shape: Circular symmetric
Tip Shape: Circular symmetric
AFM Cantilever:
F
60 kHz
C
0.5 N/m
L
115 µm
ATEC-NC
Tapping Mode AFM Probe with REAL Tip Visibility
Coating:
none
Tip Shape: Visible
Tip Shape: Visible
AFM Cantilever:
F
335 kHz
C
45 N/m
L
160 µm
TESPA
Standard Tapping Mode AFM Probe
Coating:
Reflective Aluminum
Tip Shape: Standard
Tip Shape: Standard
AFM Cantilever:
F
320 kHz
C
42 N/m
L
125 µm
OTESPA
Standard Tapping Mode AFM Probe with AFM Tip at the Very End of the AFM Cantilever
Coating:
Reflective Aluminum
Tip Shape: Optimized Positioning
Tip Shape: Optimized Positioning
AFM Cantilever:
F
300 kHz
C
26 N/m
L
160 µm
