Direct assembly of a hydrogel nano-tip onto silicon microcantilevers for wear study and facile regeneration of soft atomic force microscope probes

Recently, hydrogel nano-probes have been proven to be exclusively useful for high-speed and less damage atomic force microscope (AFM) imaging on soft or biological matters. However, from the classical tribology standpoint of view, soft and compliant natures of hydrogel nano-probes seem incompatible with long-term reliable imaging. Here, we report counter-intuitive results showing the hydrogel AFM tip better-suited for repeated non-contact amplitude modulation (AM) mode AFM imaging compared to the silicon tip. In addition, we show that the hydrogel tip attachment could be repeated multiple times after the removal of the worn or deformed tip.