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Dissipation induced by attractive interaction in dynamic force microscopy : contribution of adsorbed water layers

Laurent Nony·Touria Bouhacina·Jean-Pierre Aimé
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Abstract

At room temperature and under ambient conditions, due to the adsorption, a water film is always present on silica surfaces. If the surface is investigated with a scanning probe method in Contact mode, this causes the formation of a meniscus between the tip and the surface. This liquid neck generates additional capillary forces between the nano-tip and the surface. In dynamic mode, due to the action of the oscillating tip on the surface, the mechanical response of the adsorbed water layers can induce additional dissipation that is probed through the phase variations of the oscillator. In the present work, we analyze by dynamic force microscopy the growth of a water film on a silica surface as a function of time. The silica sample is first cleaned and heated at $420^\circ$C, then is exposed to dry conditions. The influence of the water film is checked with the dynamic mode by using intermittent contact and noncontact situations. To describe the experimental observations, additional dissipation is taken into account when the tip approaches the surface. The results of the fits allow the evaluation of the dissipation induced by the attractive interaction between the tip and the silica surface related to the adsorption of water molecules on surface as a function of time. Results are compared to previous tribological studies performed in Contact mode and infra-red spectroscopy measurements on the silica for which the key parameter was the surface temperature instead of time. The two experimental results are in good agreement.

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Laurent Nony, Touria Bouhacina, Jean-Pierre Aimé. 2005-10-11. Dissipation induced by attractive interaction in dynamic force microscopy : contribution of adsorbed water layers. https://doi.org/10.1016/s0039-6028(01)01773-3

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