抄録
Using in situ cool-stage atomic force microscopy (AFM), we can observe sample surfaces in air or fluid directly at the site or step level at low or reduced temperatures (〜-35℃ in air or 〜4℃ in fluid). The main components of the new AFM system include a heater/cooler element (cool-stage), specialized heater/cooler piezoelectric scanner with a heat exchanger, Thermal Applications Controller, AFM fluid cell, and fluid cooling system to cool the piezo scanner. We investigate the responsiveness and accuracy of the temperature control in the cooling AFM system by varying the setpoint temperature of the cool-stage and flow rate of the water flowing through the AFM fluid cell and thereby obtain suitable experimental conditions for in situ cool-stage AFM observations of mineral growth and dissolution in aqueous solutions at low or reduced temperatures. We also report the results of a preliminary experiment on in situ observations of the growth behavior on the barite (001) surface in a supersaturated BaSO_4 solution at reduced temperature (25℃ to 15℃) using the new AFM method.
