Cataloged from PDF version of article.We present a numerical analysis of amplitude modulation atomic force microscopy in aqueous salt solutions, by considering the interaction of the microscope tip with a model sample surface consisting of a hard substrate and soft biological material through Hertz and electrostatic double layer forces. Despite the significant improvements reported in the literature concerning contact-mode atomic force microscopy measurements of biological material due to electrostatic interactions in aqueous solutions, our results reveal that only modest gains of similar to 15% in imaging contrast at high amplitude setpoints are expected under typical experimental conditions for amplitude modulation atomic force microscopy, together with relatively unaffected sample indentation and maximum tip-sample interaction values. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.We present a numerical analysis of amplitude modulation atomic force microscopy in aqueous salt solutions,
by considering the interaction of the microscope tip with a model sample surface consisting of a
hard substrate and soft biological materialthrough Hertz and electrostatic double layer forces. Despite the
significant improvements reported in the literature concerning contact-mode atomic force microscopy
measurements of biological material due to electrostatic interactions in aqueous solutions, our results
reveal that only modest gains of ∼15% in imaging contrast at high amplitude setpoints are expected
under typical experimental conditions for amplitude modulation atomic force microscopy, together with
relatively unaffected sample indentation and maximum tip–sample interaction value
