La. Wenzler et al., SINGLE-MOLECULE BOND-RUPTURE FORCE ANALYSIS OF INTERACTIONS BETWEEN AFM TIPS AND SUBSTRATES MODIFIED WITH ORGANOSILANES, Analytical chemistry, 69(14), 1997, pp. 2855-2861
Recent atomic force microscopy studies have probed specific chemical i
nteractions between the tip and the surface. A statistical method that
produces information about the magnitude of single-molecule bond-rupt
ure forces has been developed in our laboratories. This paper describe
s the extension of this technique to the study of single-molecule bond
-rupture forces for organosilane coupling agents covalently attached t
o hydroxyl-bearing surfaces. Since both the tip and the surface can be
modified by functionalized organosilanes, studies of a variety of tip
-surface interactions have been possible. We were able to verify the a
dsorption of a variety of organosilanes on both the tip and surface us
ing X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy and time-of-flight secondary ion
mass spectrometry. Interactions that were studied and quantified inclu
de van der Waals interactions between bromine-terminated silanes and t
he hydrophobic interactions between methyl-terminated silanes on the t
ip and surface.