Exploring electrostatic properties of biomolecules by a combination of soft-lithography and Kelvin force microscopy

Abstract

Electrostatic properties of biomolecules play an important role in a vast myriad of fundamental biological processes. Despite of the great importance of this matter, techniques to directly determine these properties are quite scarce and are still facing technical limitations. To date, Kelvin force microscopy (KFM), a variation of conventional atomic force microscopy which is generally used to study surface potential in semiconductors, is capturing attention due to its capability of mapping electrostatic properties of biomolecules with great sensitivity and spatial resolution at sub-micrometer scale.