An atomic force microscopy mode for nondestructive electromechanical studies and its application to diphenylalanine peptide nanotubes.

Nondestructive scanning probe microscopy of fragile nanoscale objects is currently in increasing need. In this paper, we report a novel atomic force microscopy mode, HybriD Piezoresponse Force Microscopy (HD-PFM), for simultaneous nondestructive analysis of piezoresponse as well as of mechanical and dielectric properties of nanoscale objects. We demonstrate this mode in application to self-assembled diphenylalanine peptide micro- and nanotubes formed on a gold-covered substrate.