Abstract
The nature of the chemical bond is important in all natural sciences, ranging from biology to chemistry, physics and materials science. The atomic force microscope (AFM) allows to put a single chemical bond on the test bench, probing its strength and angular dependence. We review experimental AFM data, covering precise studies of van-der-Waals-, covalent-, ionic-, metallic- and hydrogen bonds as well as bonds between artificial and natural atoms. Further, we discuss some of the density functional theory calculations that are related to the experimental studies of the chemical bonds. A description of frequency modulation AFM, the most precise AFM method, discusses some of the experimental challenges in measuring bonding forces. In frequency modulation AFM, forces between the tip of an oscillating cantilever change its frequency. Initially, cantilevers were made mainly from silicon. Most of the high precision measurements of bonding strengths by AFM became possible with a technology transfer from the quartz watch technology to AFM by using quartz-based cantilevers (“qPlus force sensors”), briefly described here.
Highlights
IntroductionPauling passed away on 19 August 1994 in Big Sur, California (USA)
Linus Pauling was born in 28 February 1901 in Portland, Oregon (USA) and dedicated much of his life to the understanding of chemical bonds, leaving a landmark textbook on the nature of chemical bonds that is still very valuable today [1].Pauling passed away on 19 August 1994 in Big Sur, California (USA)
The strong interaction offered by covalent chemical bonds was utilized only 100 miles away at Park Scientific Instruments in Sunnyvale, a manufacturer of atomic force microscopes (AFM) [2], for a first demonstration that AFM could obtain atomic resolution in vacuum
Summary
Pauling passed away on 19 August 1994 in Big Sur, California (USA). At this time, the strong interaction offered by covalent chemical bonds was utilized only 100 miles away at Park Scientific Instruments in Sunnyvale, a manufacturer of atomic force microscopes (AFM) [2], for a first demonstration that AFM could obtain atomic resolution in vacuum. AFM relies on the force interaction of a sharp tip with the surface of a sample. AFM allows us to image samples using those forces, but it enables a direct measurement of bonding forces as a function of distance—an interaction of orbitals through space and through bonds as phrased by R. Experimental examples of studying these various types of bonds by AFM will be covered in this short review
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