Intelligent Molecular Tips for Chemically Sensitive Atomic Force Microscopy under High Resolution

高分辨率下化学敏感原子力显微镜的智能分子尖端是基于化学、物理和材料科学的基础上的跨学科项目。有机合成化学被用于制造新的分子，这些分子与金属原子形成吸引人的相互作用，从而提供有效的配位。利用这些分子与金属原子的相互作用，可以控制转移到纳米尺寸的金属尖端。金属尖端(探头)以类似于针式打印机的方式在样品(原子、分子)上引导，并记录样品和尖端之间的物理相互作用/力。可以从配准的信号创建表面的直接图像。金属尖端的单个原子与样品表面之间的相互作用是确保单个原子的可见性(高分辨率)所必需的。目前，这只能以一种不受控制的方式实现，耗时，而且不能在超高真空中通过单个原子或小分子的非选择性官能化直接重现，因为金属尖端本身没有原子尖锐的几何形状。建议的分子有可能提供受控和简化的转移，与目前建立的标准相比，提高制备的TIP的稳定性，并为更复杂结构(如天然产品、微晶材料)的原子尺度的复杂成像铺平道路。

The interdisciplinary project Intelligent Molecular Tips for Chemically Sensitive Atomic Force Microscopy under High Resolution is based on the basics of chemical, physical and material science. Organic synthesis chemistry is used for the manufacturing of new molecules, which form attractive interactions with metal atoms and thus provide effective coordination. The interaction of these molecules with the metal atoms is exploited to allow a controlled transfer to nanometer-sized metallic tips. The metallic tip (probe) is guided in a way similar to a needle printer over a sample (atoms, molecules) and physical interactions/forces between the sample and tip are registered. A direct image of the surface can be created from the registered signals. An interaction between a single atom of the metallic tip and the sample surface is necessary to ensure the visibility of individual atoms (high resolution). This is currently solely achievable in an uncontrolled manner, time-consuming and not directly reproducible through nonselective functionalization with individual atoms or small molecules in ultrahigh vacuum, since the metallic tips themselves do not have an atomically sharp geometry. The proposed molecules have the potential to provide a controlled and simplified transfer, to improve the stability of prepared tips compared to currently established standards and to pave the way for sophisticated imaging on atomic scale of more complex structures (e.g. natural products, microcrystalline materials).