01996naa a2200217 a 450000100080000000500110000800800410001910000220006024500620008226000090014450001380015352012590029165000280155065300350157865300140161365300290162770000160165670000230167270000240169577300590171910246882010-07-22       2003    bl uuuu     u00u1 u    #d1 aMATTOSO, L. H. C.  aUse of atomic force microscopy for the study of polymers.  c2003  aCD de trabalhos e resumos apresentados no Second Latin American Symposium on Scanning Microscopy, Búzios, Apr. 2003. 1 f.  1 CD-ROM.  aAtomic force microscopy (AFM) and other scanning probe microscopy (SPM) techniques  are receiving a great attention in the last years due to their enormous potential of investigation of materials at the nanoscale. They posses several advantages over the common electon microscopy techniques for the study of materials such as greater resolution, surface properties such as stiffness, hardness, adhesion, etc, can be evaluated, measurements can be taken inside solutions, assessment of chemical interactions between samples and tips modified with different chemical species, etc. For instance, atomic force microscopy can be successfully used to study the morphology, quantify the roughness and chek microscopically several other surface properties. The aim of this presentation is to provide some insight on the use of AFM technique as a tool for the study of conducting polymers blends, self-assembled and nanostructured thin films for sensor applications and natural fibers and their modification by benzylation and plasma tretment. The morphology and roughness of these materials can be significantly modified as a function of the surface tratment used, as shown by AFM, which presented to be a prowerful tool for studying different types of polymers.  aatomic force microscopy  aMicroscopia de força atômica  aPolímero  aTécnicas de microscopia1 aRIUL JR. A.1 aHERRMANN, P. S. P.1 aBERNARDES FILHO, R.  tActa Microscopica, Maracaibogv.12, 2003. Supplement A