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RESEARCH PRODUCT
Lateral force microscopy of multiwalled carbon nanotubes
M. AhlskogJ. Lievonensubject
NanotubeMaterials scienceElectrostatic force microscopeAnalytical chemistryAtomic force acoustic microscopyMechanical properties of carbon nanotubesConductive atomic force microscopyAtomic and Molecular Physics and OpticsElectronic Optical and Magnetic MaterialsChemical force microscopyMagnetic force microscopeComposite materialInstrumentationNon-contact atomic force microscopydescription
Carbon nanotubes are usually imaged with the atomic force microscope (AFM) in non-contact mode. However, in many applications, such as mechanical manipulation or elasticity measurements, contact mode is used. The forces affecting the nanotube are then considerable and not fully understood. In this work lateral forces were measured during contact mode imaging with an AFM across a carbon nanotube. We found that, qualitatively, both magnitude and sign of the lateral forces to the AFM tip were independent of scan direction and can be concluded to arise from the tip slipping on the round edges of the nanotube. The dependence on the normal force applied to the tip and on the ratio between nanotube diameter and tip radius was studied. We show that for small values of this ratio, the lateral force signal can be explained with a simple geometrical model.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009-06-01 | Ultramicroscopy |