Investigation of polymer surfaces using scanning force microscopy (SFM) “a new direct look on old polymer problems”

In this contribution, the general concepts of force microscopy will be presented together with its application to polymer surfaces (Ref.1). Several examples will be presented to illustrate that force microscopy is a powerful and promising tool for investigation of (polymer) surfaces, such as the imaging of polymer single crystals and the surface structure of thin films of piezo- and pyroelectric block copolymers. Individual molecules were resolved in the case of polytetrafluoroethylene and double-stranded circular DNA, without any particular surface treatment.