Issue 16, 2016

iPAINT: a general approach tailored to image the topology of interfaces with nanometer resolution

Abstract

Understanding interfacial phenomena in soft materials such as wetting, colloidal stability, coalescence, and friction warrants non-invasive imaging with nanometer resolution. Super-resolution microscopy has emerged as an attractive method to visualize nanostructures labeled covalently with fluorescent tags, but this is not amenable to all interfaces. Inspired by PAINT we developed a simple and general strategy to overcome this limitation, which we coin ‘iPAINT: interface Point Accumulation for Imaging in Nanoscale Topography’. It enables three-dimensional, sub-diffraction imaging of interfaces irrespective of their nature via reversible adsorption of polymer chains end-functionalized with photo-activatable moieties. We visualized model dispersions, emulsions, and foams with ∼20 nm and ∼3° accuracy demonstrating the general applicability of iPAINT to study solid/liquid, liquid/liquid and liquid/air interfaces. iPAINT thus broadens the scope of super-resolution microscopy paving the way for non-invasive, high-resolution imaging of complex soft materials.

Graphical abstract: iPAINT: a general approach tailored to image the topology of interfaces with nanometer resolution

Supplementary files

Article information

Article type
Paper
Submitted
18 jan 2016
Accepted
09 mar 2016
First published
30 mar 2016
This article is Open Access
Creative Commons BY license

Nanoscale, 2016,8, 8712-8716

Author version available

iPAINT: a general approach tailored to image the topology of interfaces with nanometer resolution

A. Aloi, N. Vilanova, L. Albertazzi and I. K. Voets, Nanoscale, 2016, 8, 8712 DOI: 10.1039/C6NR00445H

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