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The purpose of my using AFM is to do CFM (functionalisation) using QNM with a Multimode AFM scanner, Nanoscope IIIa controller on plant cell wall composites in fluid. So far I have tried DNP-10 self-gold coated probes and factory gold coated Biolevers BLRC150. The latter are very, very fragile and perhaps too sensitive for the amount of forces between -COOH functional groups and cellulose and also -CH3 functional groups and lignin, while DNP-10 are less delicate and perhaps more suited for my type of measurements/imaging....?I would like to inquire whether gold coated NPG-10 are well suited for QNM on dried plant cell walls in fluid/solution?Hope to hear from you soonRegardsMads
The Biolevers are, in my experience, very difficult to use because they are so thin they they like to curl over on themselves when put in liquid. This can be hard to distinguish from the cantilever breaking because the cantilever can seem to disappear. Getting them to uncurl can be impossible. The only workaround I can suggest is to be very careful introducing them to liquid. Using a pipette to introduce a small amount of liquid to the bottom of the fluid cell near the probe and letting it slowly run over to and wick around the cantilever seems to be the best approach. Just dropping them through the high surface tension of an air-water interface is almost guaranteed to cause problems.
The NP series probes will be much more robust in this regard. The NPG probes should, of course, have tip side gold but I don't have firsthand experience using them for tip functionalization. Gold rapidly adsorbs contaminants from the air, so I would plan to at least somehow clean them prior to functionalizing. The most common options are using a plasma cleaner or piranha solution (usual piranha disclaimer- be sure you know what you're doing with it because it can be extremely dangerous).
The Biolevers and newer silicon tip NP series probes also have thinner substrates than the old NP series where the substrate was glass. If you find that your MultiMode fluid cell does not securely hold the thinner probes you can contact our Service group for assistance. We can swap out old fluid cells for a new design that holds the probe more securely. It's not free, but the cost is much less than a new fluid cell.
Regards,
-Ben
I never got good results on plant cells by using biolevers. Other than the description given by Ben, they are very short and not suitable to image plant tissues which are usually pretty rough. I got the best results by using ScanAsyst AIR, ScanAsyst FLUID (for Young's moduli around 200-300 MPa or less) and TAP-150 (for Young's moduli around 1 GPa or more). Those levers give very good results in Peak Force Tapping (tested on wheat and tomato cuts) but I must say never tried to functionalize them.
Good luck!