Welcome

Nanoscopy Facilities for Analytical ChemisTry (NanoFACT) is a Wageningen-centered multi-instrument facility to provide chemical identity, composition, and structure information from the micron-scale to the nanometer-scale for a wide-open range of organic, inorganic, biological, and food samples. Our facility is globally unique since it integrates a set of extremely high-end characterization physical and analytical technologies working beyond the diffraction limit of light under one roof.

The overall aim of the facility is to provide a multi-angle and correlative approach towards chemical information at the nanoscale, and its strength lies in the combination of information available from various analytical methods with chemometrics and multivariate data analysis.

The chemical information provided by NanoFACT at the nanoscale will be increasingly critical in a broad range of applications in Nanotechnology and Life, Food, Materials, Enviromental, Polymers Sciences.

Instruments Reservation and Use

• Only registered users are allowed to use NanoFACT equipment.
• Using instruments without a reservation is not allowed.
• Use of instruments is only allowed after instructions by the operators.
• Reservation of the equipment is paying for its use. Thus, do not forget to remove your reservation if you are not going to use the instrument up to 24 hours before the booking.

Contacts/Operators

• General Inquiries: Simone Ruggeri (simone.ruggeri@wur.nl)
• AFM & AFM-IR: Raoul Fix (raoul.fix@wur.nl)
• XPS & Auger: Pujari Sidharam (sidharam.pujari@wur.nl)
• FTIR & IRRAS: Geraets Jacques (jacques.geraets@wur.nl)

Complementary Techniques Available at NanoFACT:

1. AFMs:

Our AFMs allow to study the 3-D topography, mechanical, and electrical properties of virtually any inorganic, organic, biological, food, environmental samples and materials from the scale of hundreds of mm down to single-molecule Angstrom’s resolution. Please see the list of our different AFMs below:

• Asylum MFP-3D for versatile and easy high-resolution topographical imaging in air and liquid conditions. Equipped with a large XY scanner of 120 mm with noise level <50 pm.
• Bruker Multimode 8 for: i) for versatile and easy high-resolution topographical imaging in air; ii) nano-mechanical mapping of Young’s Modulus, Adhesion, Deformation via PeakForce mode. Equipped with a large XY scanner of 175 mm with noise level <50 pm.
• Park NX10 for: i) advanced high-resolution topographical imaging in air and liquid conditions; ii) nano-mechanical mapping of Young’s Modulus, Adhesion, Deformation via PinPoint mode; iii) combined mapping of topography with electrical and magnetic properties at the nanoscale; iii) electrochemical measurements with an enclosed gold liquid cell. Equipped with a large XY scanner of 100 mm with noise level <25 pm.
• Bruker Multimode 8 HR for: i) ultra-high-resolution imaging with 20-30 pm noise in air; ii) enhanced nano-mechanical mapping of Young’s Modulus, Adhesion, Deformation via PeakForce mode. High-resolution XY scanner of 10 mm with noise level <25 pm.
•  Force robot JPK 300 to measure the interaction forces between and within molecules and materials at the nanoscale in real-time. The instrument sensitivity allows to probe events associated to small forces, such as protein (un)folding, receptor-ligand interactions, DNA melting, single-molecule mechanical properties, small molecules binding to proteins, kinetic, affinity, and energy landscapes of biological interactions.

2. AFM-IR:

• Bruker NanoIR-3 combines AFM nano-imaging, infrared (IR) chemical recognition power, and fluorescence microscopy to allow multimodal nano-characterisation of 3-D morphology, molecular and chemical composition, nanomechanical properties; of virtually any inorganic, organic, biological, food, environmental samples and materials from the scale of hundreds of mm down to single molecule resolution (<10 nm).

3. KRATOS AXIS Supra+ XPS:

• X-ray Photoelectron Spectroscopy (XPS) allows surface chemical analysis, providing detailed information on elemental composition, chemical states, and molecular interactions on the top-layers (1-10 nm) of the surface of materials. This instrument allows high-resolution analysis of solid samples, offering insights into surface structure, contamination, and bonding configurations, making it valuable for studies materials’ properties in nanotechnology, polymers, food, environmental and life sciences.

4. FTIRs:

Our FTIRs systems allow easy and versatile chemical and molecular analysis of virtually any organic and inorganic material in polymers, food, environmental, bio-technology and life sciences research from bulk to single macro-particles and monolayer level:

• FTIR Bruker Tensor 27 + Diamond + Microscope Hyperion for chemical imaging and spectral analysis of the molecular composition of solids, liquids, and pastes. The high-performance diamond ATR allows fast and high-sensitivity analysis without sample preparation. The Hyperion microscope allows detailed molecular imaging of samples at micro-scale level (50 mm) in with both transmission and reflection modes.
• Bruker FTIR TENSOR II + Heatable ATR for chemical analysis by detecting molecular vibrations in solids, liquids, and pastes. This instrument provides detailed molecular fingerprints for a wide range of materials. The heatable diamond (Attenuated Total Reflectance) ATR allows fast and high-sensitivity analysis without sample preparation, allowing for temperature-dependent measurements.
• FTIR using Tensor II + Seagull connected + IRRAS + Germanium ATR for surface and thin film chemical analysis down to single monolayer. IRRAS (IR Reflection Absorption Spectroscopy) allows to study surface interactions and molecular adsorption, on thin films, monolayers, and surface-bound molecules. Germanium ATR enhances surface sensitivity with the use of a high-refractive index germanium crystal, enabling effective analysis of solid, liquid, or semi-solid samples with minimal sample preparation.

5. Auger Spectroscopy + SEM:

• Auger Emission Spectroscopy (AES) and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) allows surface imaging and elemental analysis (top 1-10 nm layers) with nanoscale spatial resolution (10 nm). AES provides precise elemental analysis, while the SEM allows for detailed imaging of surface morphology at nanometre scale. This instrument is widely used in materials science, food science, environmental science, life sciences, nanotechnology, semiconductor research, failure analysis, and surface characterization in both industrial and academic research.