Dynamic response of AFM cantilevers to dissimilar functionalized silica surfaces in aqueous electrolyte solutions

The dynamic response of an oscillating microcantilever with a gold-coated tip interacting with dissimilar functionalized silica surfaces was studied in electrolyte solutions with pH ranging from 4 to 9. Silica surfaces were chemically modified, yielding dissimilar surfaces with -Br, -NH(2), and -CH(3) functional group terminations. The relative hydrophobicity of the surfaces was characterized by contact angle measurements. The surface charge of the functionalized surfaces was first probed with commonly used static AFM measurements and serves as a reference to the dynamic response data. The amplitude and phase of the cantilever oscillation were monitored and used to calculate the effective interaction stiffness and damping coefficient, which relate to the electrical double layer interactions and also to distance-dependent hydrodynamic damping at the solid/water interface. The data for the dynamic response of the AFM over silica surfaces as a function of chemical functionalization and electrolyte pH show that the effective stiffness has a distinctive dependence on the surface charge of functionalized silica surfaces. The hydrodynamic damping also correlates strongly with the relative hydrophobicity of the surface. The data reported here indicate that interfacial properties can be strongly affected by changing the chemical composition of surfaces.