MRI: Acquisition of an Atomic Force Microscopy-Infrared Spectroscopy (AFM-IR) System for Multidisciplinary Research and Education

Nontechnical Description:

An Atomic Force Microscopy-Infrared Spectroscopy (AFM-IR) system enables researchers to image samples with nanometer precision while collecting chemical, optical, mechanical and surface morphology information at the same time. This opens exciting new possibilities for multidisciplinary analysis and allows investigators to extend their research into new scientific directions and answer advanced fundamental science and engineering questions at the nanoscale.

The instrument's versatility, non-destructive nature, and ability to operate under controlled conditions (e.g., temperature, hydration, etc.) make it suitable for widespread use with materials that range from delicate biological systems to rigid and engineered materials. AFM-IR represents a new and emerging technology. At Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI), the instrument supports faculty and students from four schools (Science, Engineering & Technology, Medicine, and Dentistry) by providing capabilities for interdisciplinary scientific discovery, workforce training, and use in teaching and K-12 outreach efforts.

Importantly, its placement within the Integrated Nanosystems Development Institute's shared nanoscale characterization facility at IUPUI allows the AFM-IR to serve as a resource for external and industry users to boost innovation and collaboration throughout the region. Technical Description:

By combining atomic force microscopy, nanoscale infrared spectroscopy, and scattering-type scanning near-field optical microscopy in a single platform, the acquired AFM-IR system enables ultrafast imaging and nanoscale mapping of morphological and mechanical characteristics, as well as chemical and optical properties. The latter are the result of an IR beam being focused onto an AFM tip, and either the dissipation of the material (via cantilever deflection caused by photothermal expansion) or the backscattered signal is detected to yield nanoscale spectroscopic data.

Deflection is easily induced in soft and/or biological samples, whereas harder samples can scatter a sufficient amount of light. Together, this creates a powerful tool for characterizing samples that span soft to rigid, and enables the ability to perform hyperspectral imaging (where a complete infrared spectrum is obtained at every pixel, at a spatial resolution of 10nm) or absorption maps at different wavenumbers, all while retaining the capabilities of the full-featured atomic force microscope that the system is built around.

As a result, the AFM-IR serves a team of investigators with current research spanning the design/characterization of novel bionanosensors, nanocarriers, and nanomaterials for energy applications, to the fundamental biology of ligand damage, bone loading, and wound healing, to industrial process development.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.