Abstract
Nanoprobes are one of the most important components in several fields of nanoscience to study materials, molecules and particles. In scanning probe microscopes, the nanoprobes consist on silicon tips coated with thin metallic films to provide additional properties, such as conductivity. However, if the experiments involve high currents or lateral frictions, the initial properties of the tips can wear out very fast. One possible solution is the use of hard coatings, such as diamond, or making the entire tip out of a precious material (platinum or diamond). However, this strategy is more expensive and the diamond coatings can damage the samples. In this context, the use of graphene as a protective coating for nanoprobes has attracted considerable interest. Here we review the main literature in this field, and discuss the fabrication, performance and scalability of nanoprobes.
Highlights
Sharp probe tips with an apex radius
Despite the authors showing that their graphene coated nanoprobes achieved enhanced performance (90% yield) as a molecular junction, to the best of our knowledge this approach has never been reproduced by these or other authors, and the graphene grown by this method contains a large number of defects, which is indicated by the strong D peak
Van der Waals forces are much higher at very sharp morphologies [37], which means that all the flakes tend to attach there
Summary
Sharp probe tips with an apex radius
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