Hydrogel Tip Integration Onto Tipless Silicon Cantilevers for Atomic Force Microscopy and Its Facile Regeneration

Abstract

In this letter, we report hydrogel tip attachment onto tipless silicon cantilevers by ultraviolet curing of hydrogel filled into an elastomeric tip mold, for the first time. By mechanically deforming the tip mold or changing the mold design, attachment of various tip shapes is demonstrated. Hybrid atomic force microscope cantilevers of their tip and beam being hydrogel and silicon are used for imaging various inorganic substrates and HeLa cells. Since the hydrogel tip can be selectively removed by piranha solution, hydrogel tip regeneration is also realized by removing the used hydrogel tip and re-attaching a new tip.