Basic and Applied Research of Electrostatic Interaction Detected by Potential-Controlled Cantilever

众所周知，原子力显微镜（AFM），除了提供地形信息，可以用来区分表面官能团。去年，我们进行了力曲线测量电活性二茂铁（Fc）终止的自组装单分子膜的尖端和样品电位的独立控制下。这些结果表明，这种基于AFM的技术将是研究Fc^+与抗衡阴离子之间离子对结构的有力工具。今年，我们在各种电解质溶液中进行了力曲线测量，并成功地揭示了分子尺度上的离子对结构。

It has been known that atomic force microscopy (AFM), in addition to providing topographic information, can be used to discriminate surface functional groups. Last year, we performed force curve measurements between electroactive ferrocene (Fc)-terminated self-assembled monolayers under independent control of the tip and sample potentials. These results have demonstrated that this AFM-based technique will be a powerful tool for investigating the structure of the ion pair between Fc^+ and counter anions. In this year, we performed force curve measurements under various electrolyte solutions, and succeeded in revealing the ion-pair structure in molecular scale.