Related papers: Impact of Electrostatic Forces in Contact Mode Sca…
The distribution of counterions and the electrostatic interaction between two similarly charged dielectric slabs is studied in the strong coupling limit. Dielectric inhomogeneities and discreteness of charge on the slabs have been taken…
Electrowetting is a commonly used tool to manipulate sessile drops on hydrophobic surfaces. By applying an external voltage over a liquid and a dielectric-coated surface, one achieves a reduction of the macroscopic contact angles for…
Slide electrification - the spontaneous charge separation by sliding water drops - can lead to an electrostatic potential of 1 kV and change drop motion substantially. To find out, how slide electrification influences the contact angles of…
Electrostatic charging of insulating fine particles can be responsible for numerous phenomena ranging from lightning in volcanic plumes to dust explosions. However, even basic aspects of how fine particles become charged are still unclear.…
We report the development of a scanning force microscope based on an ultra-sensitive silicon nitride membrane transducer. Our development is made possible by inverting the standard microscope geometry - in our instrument, the substrate is…
The surface charge of a water interface determines many fundamental processes in physical chemistry and interface science, and it has been intensively studied for over a hundred years. We summarize experimental methods to characterize the…
Molecules adsorbing on metal surfaces form a variety of different surface polymorphs. How strongly this polymorphism affects interface properties is a priori unknown. In this work we investigate how strongly the surface polymorphism…
The spatial variation and temporal variation in surface potential are important error sources in various precision experiments and deserved to be considered carefully. In the former case, the theoretical analysis shows that this effect…
In atomic force microscopy (AFM), the angle relative to the vertical ($\theta_{i}$) that the tip apex of a cantilever moves is determined by the tilt of the probe holder and the geometries of the cantilever and actuated eigenmode $i$. Even…
Water drops sliding on hydrophobic surfaces spontaneously separate charges at their rear. It is unclear how this charge separation affects the contact angles of a sliding drop. We slide grounded and insulated drops on hydrophobic surfaces…
Potential patches are responsible for a force between closely-spaced objects that forms a parasitic contribution to sensitive force measurements. Existing analytical models cannot account for the patch force in the 3D geometries of real…
We have performed comparative measurements of the Casimir force between a metallic plate and a transparent sphere coated with metallic films of different thicknesses. We have observed that, if the thickness of the coating is less than the…
We study the non-contact friction between an atomic force microscope tip and a metal substrate in the presence of bias voltage. The friction is due to energy losses in the sample created by the electromagnetic field from the oscillating…
The mechanical properties of PC12 living cells have been studied at the nanoscale with a Force Feedback Microscope using two experimental approaches. Firstly, the local mechanical impedance of the cell membrane has been mapped…
Fundamental mechanisms of energy storage, corrosion, sensing, and multiple biological functionalities are directly coupled to electrical processes and ionic dynamics at solid-liquid interfaces. In many cases, these processes are spatially…
We demonstrate spatially-resolved measurements of spontaneous and stimulated electron-photon interactions in nanoscale optical near fields using electron energy-loss spectroscopy (EELS), cathodoluminescence spectroscopy (CL), and…
The elastic deformation of a soft solid induced by capillary forces crucially relies on the excess stress inside the solid-liquid interface. While for a liquid-liquid interface this "surface stress" is strictly identical to the "surface…
Motion of cantilever near sample surfaces exhibits additional friction even before two bodies come into mechanical contact. Called non-contact friction (NCF), this friction is of great practical importance to the ultrasensitive force…
Piezoelectric quartz tuning forks have been employed as the force sensor in a dynamic mode scanning force microscope operating at temperatures down to 1.7 K at He-gas pressures of typically 5 mbar. An electrochemically etched tungsten tip…
We report on the measurement of the Casimir force between conducting surfaces in a parallel configuration. The force is exerted between a silicon cantilever coated with chromium and a similar rigid surface and is detected looking at the…