NDLI: Underwater atomic force microscopy for in situ observation of microorganisms in the deep sea

Content Provider	IEEE Xplore Digital Library
Author	Nishida, S. Matsubara, N. Fujii, T. Fukuba, T. Kyo, M. Okamura, K. Shitashima, K.
Copyright Year	2015
Description	Author affiliation: Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Sci., Yokosuka, Japan (Fukuba, T.; Kyo, M.) \|\| Co.2 Storage Res. Div. of I2CNER, Kyushu Univ., Fukuoka, Japan (Shitashima, K.) \|\| Center for Adv. Marine Core Res., Kochi Univ., Nankoku, Japan (Okamura, K.) \|\| Inst. of Ind. Sci., Univ. of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan (Nishida, S.; Matsubara, N.; Fujii, T.)
Abstract	We present a novel underwater atomic force microscope system (underwater AFM system), which is mountable on underwater vehicles or submersible seafloor platforms. The mission of the system is to observe microorganisms and microparticulates in situ, which are suspended and dispersed in deepwater, with high spatial resolution down to nanometer scale. The system is composed of three major technological elements: a main unit of the underwater AFM, fluidic devices for the sample collection from deepwater (for example, pumps and a filtration unit using membrane filters), and robust mounting mechanisms for the underwater vehicles or the submersible seafloor platforms. Since we use a commercially available self-sensitive cantilever as the AFM probe, the deflection of the cantilever is measured by the integrated piezoresistive gauges. For insulation of the self-sensitive cantilever from the seawater under high pressure in the deep sea, we applied a thin layer coating of poly(p-xylylene) polymers (Parylene) onto the cantilever. We have successfully balanced the imaging quality and the insulation performance by optimizing the conditions of the layer formation, for example dimmer types of Parylene and the final layer thickness. We also have invented a novel sample stage for the underwater AFM equipped with a sample filtration mechanism using membrane filters. As a test result of the sample stage with the membrane filters in the deep sea exploration, the microorganisms suspended and dispersed in the deepwater have been successfully collected and fixed on the membrane filter. The present underwater AFM system would be a useful tool for in situ observation of the living microorganisms and microparticulates with nanoscale spatial resolution leading to future new findings in the deep sea.
Starting Page	1
Ending Page	4
File Size	1641490
Page Count	4
File Format	PDF
e-ISBN	9781479983001
DOI	10.1109/UT.2015.7108306
Language	English
Publisher	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
Publisher Date	2015-02-23
Publisher Place	India
Access Restriction	Subscribed
Rights Holder	Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
Subject Keyword	Microorganisms Optical filters Force Atomic force microscopy Coatings Parylene Coating Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) Underwater AFM in situ Observation ROV
Content Type	Text
Resource Type	Article

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