Skip to main content
PMC home page
Biophysical Journal logoLink to Biophysical Journal
. 1991 Oct;60(4):777–785. doi: 10.1016/S0006-3495(91)82112-9

Electrostatic interaction in atomic force microscopy

Hans-Jüurgen Butt 1
PMCID: PMC1260129  PMID: 19431803

Abstract

In atomic force microscopy, the stylus experiences an electrostatic force when imaging in aqueous medium above a charged surface. This force has been calculated numerically with continuum theory for a silicon nitrite or silicon oxide stylus. For comparison, the Van der Waals force was also calculated. In contrast to the Van der Waals attraction, the electrostatic force is repulsive. At a distance of 0.5 nm the electrostatic force is typically 10-12-10-10 N and thus comparable in strength to the Van der Waals force. The electrostatic force increases with increasing surface charge density and decreases roughly exponentially with distance. It can be reduced by imaging in high salt concentrations. Below surface potentials of ≈50 mV, a simple analytical approximation of the electrostatic force is described.

Full text

PDF

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Binnig G, Quate CF, Gerber C. Atomic force microscope. Phys Rev Lett. 1986 Mar 3;56(9):930–933. doi: 10.1103/PhysRevLett.56.930. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Butt H. J., Downing K. H., Hansma P. K. Imaging the membrane protein bacteriorhodopsin with the atomic force microscope. Biophys J. 1990 Dec;58(6):1473–1480. doi: 10.1016/S0006-3495(90)82492-9. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Butt H. J., Wolff E. K., Gould S. A., Dixon Northern B., Peterson C. M., Hansma P. K. Imaging cells with the atomic force microscope. J Struct Biol. 1990 Oct-Dec;105(1-3):54–61. doi: 10.1016/1047-8477(90)90098-w. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Drake B., Prater C. B., Weisenhorn A. L., Gould S. A., Albrecht T. R., Quate C. F., Cannell D. S., Hansma H. G., Hansma P. K. Imaging crystals, polymers, and processes in water with the atomic force microscope. Science. 1989 Mar 24;243(4898):1586–1589. doi: 10.1126/science.2928794. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Edstrom R. D., Meinke M. H., Yang X. R., Yang R., Elings V., Evans D. F. Direct visualization of phosphorylase-phosphorylase kinase complexes by scanning tunneling and atomic force microscopy. Biophys J. 1990 Dec;58(6):1437–1448. doi: 10.1016/S0006-3495(90)82489-9. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Girard C, Van Labeke D, Vigoureux JM. van der Waals force between a spherical tip and a solid surface. Phys Rev B Condens Matter. 1989 Dec 15;40(18):12133–12139. doi: 10.1103/physrevb.40.12133. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Goodman FO, Garcia N. Roles of the attractive and repulsive forces in atomic-force microscopy. Phys Rev B Condens Matter. 1991 Feb 15;43(6):4728–4731. doi: 10.1103/physrevb.43.4728. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Hartmann U. van der Waals interactions between sharp probes and flat sample surfaces. Phys Rev B Condens Matter. 1991 Jan 15;43(3):2404–2407. doi: 10.1103/physrevb.43.2404. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Marra J. Direct measurement of the interaction between phosphatidylglycerol bilayers in aqueous electrolyte solutions. Biophys J. 1986 Nov;50(5):815–825. doi: 10.1016/S0006-3495(86)83522-6. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Marra J., Israelachvili J. Direct measurements of forces between phosphatidylcholine and phosphatidylethanolamine bilayers in aqueous electrolyte solutions. Biochemistry. 1985 Aug 13;24(17):4608–4618. doi: 10.1021/bi00338a020. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Ninham B. W., Parsegian V. A. Van der Waals forces. Special characteristics in lipid-water systems and a general method of calculation based on the Lifshitz theory. Biophys J. 1970 Jul;10(7):646–663. doi: 10.1016/S0006-3495(70)86326-3. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Parsegian V. A., Gingell D. On the electrostatic interaction across a salt solution between two bodies bearing unequal charges. Biophys J. 1972 Sep;12(9):1192–1204. doi: 10.1016/S0006-3495(72)86155-1. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Rau D. C., Parsegian V. A. Direct measurement of forces between linear polysaccharides xanthan and schizophyllan. Science. 1990 Sep 14;249(4974):1278–1281. doi: 10.1126/science.2144663. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Renthal R. Surface charge density of purple membrane. Biophys J. 1989 Mar;55(3):581–583. doi: 10.1016/S0006-3495(89)82852-8. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Stoeckenius W., Bogomolni R. A. Bacteriorhodopsin and related pigments of halobacteria. Annu Rev Biochem. 1982;51:587–616. doi: 10.1146/annurev.bi.51.070182.003103. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Szundi I., Stoeckenius W. Surface pH controls purple-to-blue transition of bacteriorhodopsin. A theoretical model of purple membrane surface. Biophys J. 1989 Aug;56(2):369–383. doi: 10.1016/S0006-3495(89)82683-9. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Tredgold R. H., Hole P. N. Dielectric behaviour of dry synthetic polypeptides. Biochim Biophys Acta. 1976 Aug 4;443(1):137–142. doi: 10.1016/0005-2736(76)90497-1. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Warshel A., Naray-Szabo G., Sussman F., Hwang J. K. How do serine proteases really work? Biochemistry. 1989 May 2;28(9):3629–3637. doi: 10.1021/bi00435a001. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Warshel A., Russell S. T. Calculations of electrostatic interactions in biological systems and in solutions. Q Rev Biophys. 1984 Aug;17(3):283–422. doi: 10.1017/s0033583500005333. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Weisenhorn A. L., Drake B., Prater C. B., Gould S. A., Hansma P. K., Ohnesorge F., Egger M., Heyn S. P., Gaub H. E. Immobilized proteins in buffer imaged at molecular resolution by atomic force microscopy. Biophys J. 1990 Nov;58(5):1251–1258. doi: 10.1016/S0006-3495(90)82465-6. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Zasadzinski J. A., Helm C. A., Longo M. L., Weisenhorn A. L., Gould S. A., Hansma P. K. Atomic force microscopy of hydrated phosphatidylethanolamine bilayers. Biophys J. 1991 Mar;59(3):755–760. doi: 10.1016/S0006-3495(91)82288-3. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Biophysical Journal are provided here courtesy of The Biophysical Society

RESOURCES