Rtespa cantilevers

All AFM images were obtained using a Bruker Multimode/ Nanoscope IIIa (Bruker, Santa Barbara, Ca, USA) in air at room temperature using a J-scanner or E-scanner with an x-y range of B160 mm and B15 mm respectively. All imaging was carried out in tapping mode using Bruker RTESPA cantilevers with a nominal resonant frequency of 300 kHz, a nominal spring constant of 40 N m À1 , and a nominal tip radius of 8 nm. The amplitude set point was kept at approximately 0.6 for all of the imaging. The scans varied in size depending on the sample from 2 mm 2 to 150 mm 2 . The scans were carried out at a frequency of approximately 0.25 Hz. All analysis of the AFM images was carried out using Gwyddion (http://gwyddion.net/) freeware. 41

AFM was used to image the polymer formation on the graphite surface at the nanoscale. A Bruker Multimode/Nanoscope IIIa (Bruker, Santa Barbara, Ca, USA) was used for all imaging. To improve image resolution, two scanners were used: a J-scanner and an E-scanner with x-y ranges of ∼160 µm and ∼15 µm, respectively. All experiments were carried out using tapping mode in air at ambient conditions. For all experiments, Bruker RTESPA cantilevers were used with a nominal resonant frequency of 300 kHz, a nominal spring constant of 40 N/m, and a nominal tip radius of 8 nm. The freeware Gwyddion (http://gwyddion.net/) was used for all image processing and analysis. 41