Chemical force spectroscopic mapping of nanoparticle-embedded polyester fiber by atomic force microscopy

The chemical mapping of polyester fibers' surfaces embedded with nanoparticles was performed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). SEM visualized the chemical (elemental) mapping of the fiber surface. AFM revealed more detailed surface states of the embedded nanoparticles, i.e., whether the nanoparticles are buried in the matrix of polyester or not. This cannot be evaluated only by SEM, because of the long penetration depth of electron beams. We demonstrate that the combination of SEM and AFM is a powerful approach to characterize the surface state of nanoparticle-embedded fibers and investigate the correlation between the surface properties and the fibers' function.