I would like to measure mechanical properties of ceramic nanofiber (100-200 nm in diameter) by using Force Volume mode. Does anyone know how to prepare this kind of sample?
Please find the SEM image of the nanofiber as attached.
Either you could fabricate the nanofibers on the sample holder or you could fix the appropriate size of nanofibers along with the support used for the fabrication on the AFM sample holder.
Firman, you have posted SEM image, can you also post a gross image, i mean how sample looks like when you see it. Is like sheet of paper or just bundle of fibers as in cotton.
Either you could fabricate the nanofibers on the sample holder or you could fix the appropriate size of nanofibers along with the support used for the fabrication on the AFM sample holder.
Dear Firman.
Just a question first - how did you prepare your fibers? Electrospining?
Regarding the sample: The biggest issue will be to position your tip at the desired position. For this it is vise to either use a powerful optical microscope to find the best spot or even better to use a sample substrate with markers. While this are mostly bigger than the features you're after, you can use them to better and more easily position your tip at the right spot.
Good luck!
Firman, you have two possibilities.One is to deposit a drop of a solution (ethanol for example) containing some of your fibers onto a membrane presenting nanopores. Statistically one should land across a hole as a clamped beam. Then contact resonnance or load-displacement (élastic bending) curve techniques may be used to compute elastic property of the nanowire or fiber or even strength. You can also try with a cantilever like geometry (one side of the fiber is clamped the other one is free standing)
See for example : Nanobeam Mechanics: Elasticity, Strength, and Toughness of Nanorods and Nanotubes Eric W. Wong et al. Science 277, 1971 (1997); and JOURNAL OF APPLIED PHYSICS VOLUME 93, NUMBER 9 1 MAY 2003 Measurement of elastic modulus of nanotubes by resonant contact atomic force microscopy.
Hello Firman, I did similar measurement as you mentioned. If direct growing the nanofibres on a structured surface is difficult in your case, you may disperse the fibre in ethanol and transfer a droplet of the solution onto a substrate containing pore or trench. Then you can move an individual fibre onto the pore or trench by tip manipulation. I have reported this experiment in the following paper: Applied Surface Science 2010, 256:4738-4744. I hope it can be useful for you.
@Varun Vyas
I dont have the gross image at the moment. However the sample is look like tiny sheets of paper
@Uros Maver
By electrospining. Unfortunately, our microscope is not good enough identify the spots we want.
@Jean-pierre Guin and Farid Touaiti
I think a drop onto a membrane presenting nanopores / TGXYSZ grid may be a good idea. Thank you for the suggestion Sir.
@Sen Wu
Thank you for the suggestion and the reference Sir. They r very useful for me.
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