Resolving Multi-Asperity Contacts at the Nanoscale through Super-Resolution Fluorescence Imaging.

ABSTRACT: Contact mechanics, spanning nanometer to tectonic scales, faces long-standing challenges arising from multiscale random roughness, which hinders experimental validation of theories. Understanding multi-asperity rough contacts is vital for addressing catastrophic consequences of these contacts failing such as earthquakes and for diverse technological applications. To visualize such contacts, we introduce a super-resolution microscopy method utilizing spontaneous millisecond ON/OFF fluorescence blinking of contact-sensitive molecular rotor molecules immobilized on a glass coverslip. This technique achieves ∼55 nm lateral imaging resolution for rough poly(methyl methacrylate) and glass spheres on glass contacts. For soft polymer spheres due to large plastic deformation, the resolution improve

SUBMITTER: Demirkurt B 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC10895690 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Feb

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature