Abstract
The structural characteristics of polymer track-etched membranes (TM) were obtained by atomic force microscopy (AFM) for a set of samples (polypropylene, polycarbonate, polyethylene terephthalate, with average pore diameters ~183, 375, and 1430 nm, respectively). The analysis of AFM experimental data was performed by using a specially developed technique for computer analysis of AFM images. The method allows one to obtain such parameters of TM as distribution of pore diameters, distribution of the minimum distances between the nearest pores, pore surface density, as well as to identify defective pores. Spatial inhomogeneities in the distribution of pore parameters were revealed. No anisotropy (some specific selected direction) was found in the surface distribution of the pores in the samples under study.
Highlights
Track-etched membranes (TM) are promising materials compared with conventional membranes due to their well-defined structure
When studying samples by the atomic force microscopy (AFM) method, it is necessary to select the optimal scanning modes to avoid the appearance of various artifacts (Figure 3)
The above-mentioned distributions were found for three different model cases: (a) a strongly ordered spatial distribution, when the pores were located in the nodes of the square grid with a certain period R; (b) a random homogeneous distribution with a certain surface density ρ; (c) a distribution with the preferred orientation distribution of the pores, i.e., “anisotropy”
Summary
Track-etched membranes (TM) are promising materials compared with conventional membranes due to their well-defined structure. The AFM method has a high spatial resolution and the ability to implement non-destructive diagnostics of the samples, which is especially important for the study of biological objects under normal conditions, in combination with the Raman spectroscopy technique. The properties of metal nanowires (as well as of more complicated secondary nanostructures, such as tubes, dendrites, etc.) and their further agglomeration, as well as mechanical and electrodynamic properties, depend on pores geometrical parameters and their distributions This defines the functional properties of metasurfaces prepared in such a way, e.g., the enhancement coefficient for SERS measurements [4,5,24]. We applied the AFM technique to characterize polycarbonate (PC), polyethylene terephthalate (PETP), and polypropylene (PP) TM; we used AFM image processing and statistical methods to analyze the distribution of TM pores parameters
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