Direct measurement of electrostatic fields using single Teflon nanoparticle attached to AFM tip

Nanoscale Res Lett. 2013 Dec 7;8(1):519. doi: 10.1186/1556-276X-8-519.

Abstract

A single 210-nm Teflon nanoparticle (sTNP) was attached to the vertex of a silicon nitride (Si3N4) atomic force microscope tip and charged via contact electrification. The charged sTNP can then be considered a point charge and used to measure the electrostatic field adjacent to a parallel plate condenser using 30-nm gold/20-nm titanium as electrodes. This technique can provide a measurement resolution of 250/100 nm along the X- and Z-axes, and the minimum electrostatic force can be measured within 50 pN. PACS: 07.79.Lh, 81.16.-c, 84.37. + q.