Multi modal Surface Forces Apparatus

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The present proposal describes a research program in the field of surface engineering regrouping three researchers at the university of Montreal. The research program is centered on developing new strategies to control interfacial properties of engineered surfaces that could potentially lead to applications in the biomedical field. A key element of this research program lies in the precise engineering of the surfaces which requires an absolute control of molecular grafting, distribution and conformation. Our main goal is to establish quantitative correlations between macroscopic interfacial properties such as adhesion, lubrication, surface energy and local nanoscale surface properties such as molecular conformation, molecular distribution or nanomechanical properties. This challenging task is currently investigated in three different research thrusts involving each researcher: i) superlubricating and superresistant surfaces for next generation biolubricants; ii) Responsive/instructive nanofilms for next generation smart devices; iii) Biofunctional surfaces for next generation nanomedecine and medical devices. To achieve our goal, we are currently using the Surface Forces Apparatus (SFA) to assess the interaction forces at the molecular level between engineered macroscopic surfaces and characterizing their nanoscale properties using complementary techniques such as fluorescence microscopy, X-Ray/neutron reflection spectroscopy and surface imaging. This approach is tedious and does not allow to quantitatively establish the desired correlations due to surface variability and deterioration during transfer from one characterization technique to another. The requested infrastructure is a multi modal SFA integrating a fluorescence microscope. The equipment offers the possibility to perform force measurement and fluorescence imaging simultaneously allowing to directly correlate the nanoscale distribution of molecular species at the surfaces with macroscopic interfacial properties. The versatility of the equipment will allow in the future to couple other surface sensitive techniques such as in situ molecular imaging (AFM) or to perform neutron scattering experiments (SANS) simultaneously to force measurements. If granted, the equipment will significantly advance our research program and its scientific impact and will constitute an outstanding upgradable technological platform for surface scientists in Canada.