Electrostatic force microscopy as a broadly applicable method for characterizing pyroelectric materials
Electrostatic force microscopy as a broadly applicable method for characterizing pyroelectric materials
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DOI：
10.1088/0957-4484/23/23/235701
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发表时间：
2012-06
期刊：
影响因子：
3.5
通讯作者：
C. Martin-Olmos;A. Stieg;J. Gimzewski
中科院分区：
文献类型：
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作者：
C. Martin-Olmos;A. Stieg;J. Gimzewski
提出了一种基于静电力显微镜与基底支架热循环相结合的通用方法，用于使用商用原子力显微镜系统对一系列材料和样品配置中的热释电效应进行直接、纳米级的表征。为了提供其广泛适用性的例子，该技术被应用于天然碧玺宝石的检查。该方法使用类似于环境条件下经历的热循环进行了验证，其中感应热释电响应产生局部静电表面电荷，其大小表明与每种宝石品种的铁含量和散热量相关。此外，即使在热平衡下，表面电荷也会持续存在。这种行为归因于宝石表面通过与周围空气的湍流接触而发生持续、随机的冷却，这表明能量收集在环境传感器和个人电子产品等应用中具有潜在的用途。与之前报道的方法相比，我们的方法能够在对感兴趣的样品很少或没有限制的情况下进行如此精确的纳米级测量，并且代表了用于表征热释电材料和设备的强大新工具。
A general method based on the combination of electrostatic force microscopy with thermal cycling of the substrate holder is presented for direct, nanoscale characterization of the pyroelectric effect in a range of materials and sample configurations using commercial atomic force microscope systems. To provide an example of its broad applicability, the technique was applied to the examination of natural tourmaline gemstones. The method was validated using thermal cycles similar to those experienced in ambient conditions, where the induced pyroelectric response produced localized electrostatic surface charges whose magnitude demonstrated a correlation with the iron content and heat dissipation of each gemstone variety. In addition, the surface charge was shown to persist even at thermal equilibrium. This behavior is attributed to constant, stochastic cooling of the gemstone surface through turbulent contact with the surrounding air and indicates a potential utility for energy harvesting in applications including environmental sensors and personal electronics. In contrast to previously reported methods, ours has a capacity to carry out such precise nanoscale measurements with little or no restriction on the sample of interest, and represents a powerful new tool for the characterization of pyroelectric materials and devices.