Electrochemical etching of graphite tips for potential use in nanoscience

Abstract

The main goal is to find an easy, and more importantly, cheap process of producing sharp tips for the potential use in an atomic force microscope (AFM) or as a source of electrons utilizing cold field emission. This objective is being achieved by the method named electrochemical etching, and the used material is cheap and easily accessible. For this experiment, graphite leads of different hardnesses were used, etched with two types of etching solutions. The first solution contained potassium hydroxide (KOH) dissolved in water and the second contained sodium hydroxide (NaOH), also dissolved in water. Different ratios of chemicals were tried for the manufacturing process. Hardnesses of leads were 2B, B, and HB. After the process of etching, products were examined with a scanning electron microscope (SEM). The radius of tips was measured, and results were compared and evaluated. Stating on the output data of tips, it can be said, that goal was achieved, and tips can be used for their potential purpose. There would be needed another research about how well they fit to work.