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Updated: Jul 14, 2026
Advances in Nanoscale Infrared Spectroscopy to Explore Multiphase Polymeric Systems
Published on: June 23, 2023
Nanoscale characterisation and imaging of partially amorphous materials using local thermomechanical analysis and
Ljiljana Harding1, William P King, Xuan Dai
1School of Chemical Sciences and Pharmacy, University of East Anglia, Norwich, Norfolk, NR4 7TJ, UK.
Purpose:
The purpose is to investigate the use of thermal nanoprobes in thermomechanical and heated tip pulsed force modes as novel means of discriminating between amorphous and crystalline material on a sub-micron scale.
Materials And Methods:
Indometacin powder was compressed and partially converted into amorphous material. Thermal nanoprobes were used to perform localised thermomechanical analysis (L-TMA) and heated tip pulsed force mode imaging as a function of temperature.
Results:
L-TMA with submicron lateral spatial resolution and sub-100 nm depth penetration was achieved, allowing us to thermomechanically discriminate between amorphous and crystalline material at a nanoscale for the first time. The amorphous and crystalline regions were imaged as a function of temperature using heated tip pulsed force AFM and a resolution of circa 50 nm was achieved. We are also able to observe tip-induced recrystallisation of the amorphous material.
Discussion:
The study demonstrates that we are able to discriminate and characterise amorphous and crystalline regions at a submicron scale of scrutiny. We have demonstrated the utility of two methods, L-TMA and heated tip pulsed force mode AFM, that allow us to respectively characterise and image adjacent amorphous and crystalline regions at a nanoscale.
Conclusions:
The study has demonstrated that thermal nanoprobes represent a novel method of characterising and imaging partially amorphous materials.
