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Influence of attractive force on imaging micro‐droplets of water by atomic force microscope
Author(s) -
Wang Rongguang,
Kido Mitsuo
Publication year - 2005
Publication title -
surface and interface analysis
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.52
H-Index - 90
eISSN - 1096-9918
pISSN - 0142-2421
DOI - 10.1002/sia.2085
Subject(s) - cantilever , atomic force microscopy , contact angle , nanotechnology , electrostatic force microscope , chemistry , materials science , composite material
Abstract The shape of micro‐droplets of water on a pure copper surface was investigated using the a.c. non‐contact mode of an atomic force microscope (AFM) by applying different attractive forces between the cantilever tip and the liquid surface. The forces largely influenced the observed radii of micro‐droplets; the influence can be reduced significantly by reducing the force. The same attractive force between the cantilever tip and the micro‐droplets is necessary when comparing the contact angles of micro‐droplets on different surfaces. Furthermore, the values of the contact angles of the micro‐droplets should be the average of those on at least four sides of the droplets. Copyright © 2005 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.