The use of atomic force microscopy (AFM) to study the surface topography of commercial fluid cracking catalysts (FCCs) and pillared interlayered clays (PILCs) cracking catalysts

摘要

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) was first applied to the study of surfaces in 1988 (1) two years after Binnig and co-workers invented this type of scanning probe microscope (2). With hard surfaces such as clays (3-5) or clay containing materials such as FCCs (6-9), image generation is dominated by the surface top0ology, by the tip0 geometry and, when working in air, by the meniscus force of a water film on the surface (5). This force and the large contact area between the tip and the surface, are the main source of image artifacts white studying hard surfaces. Nonetheless, today these type of surfaces are routinely imaged with molecular resolution. As a result, scanning probe microscopy (SPM) such as atomic force microscopy (AFM), has become an imaging trechnique of particular utility for the study of a variety of surfaces at the molecular-scale level.