Asylum Research, a specialist in scanning probe microscopy/atomic force microscopy (SPM/AFM), has delivered a Cypher AFM system and an MFP-3D-Bio AFM system to Melbourne University.
The systems, which were delivered to the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, will be used by Dr Raymond Dagastine's group to develop nanoscale experiments and theories to measure and predict interactions, collisions and coalescence between droplets and bubbles that underpin the applications of foams and emulsions and other soft-matter materials.
The approach provides a 'front-seat' view of how drops or bubbles collide in solution and how the physical mechanisms are dependent on the types of molecules coating their interfaces.
Dagastine said: 'We chose the combination of the Asylum MFP-3D and Cypher AFMs for their visionary design and stability, the cross compatibility of the software and the ease of implementing specialised user controls and inputs.
'This makes the MFD-3D-Bio and Cypher the ideal combination of instruments for high-end research and surface characterisation on the nano scale,' he added.
According to Dagastine, the AFM systems will allow the university to visualise the interactions and surfaces in soft-matter materials through high-resolution imaging on the nano to molecular scale, as well as force measurements on the nano scale with the integration of a variety of optical characterisation methods.
