Arrow-CONTR

Fabrication of Thin-Film Composite Nanofiltration Membrane Employing Polyelectrolyte and Metal–Organic Framework (MOF) via Spin-Spray-Assisted Layer-by-Layer Assembly

Spin‑spray‑assisted layer‑by‑layer (LbL) assembly is an innovative technique for producing nanostructured thin films due to its rapid deposition and excellent substrate coverage. In this article, Farid Fadhillah fabricated a nanofiltration (NF) membrane composed of multilayers of polyethyleneimine (PEI) and poly(sodium‑4‑styrene sulfonate) (PSS) on a polysulfone (PSF) support. The resulting membrane was subsequently coated with a metal–organic framework (MOF303).
The fabricated (PEI/PSS)₅–MOF303 membrane demonstrated a rejection rate of 18.94 ± 1.58% and a permeability of 0.91 ± 0.13 L/(h·bar·m²), while also exhibiting improved antifouling performance. These findings highlight the potential of spin‑spray‑assisted LbL assembly as a promising route for thin‑film composite membrane fabrication.
Surface characterization was performed using a commercially available AFM system equipped with a NanoWorld Arrow‑CONTR AFM probe, a silicon cantilever with a force constant of 0.2 N/m, operated in contact mode. Lateral images were used to visualize surface inhomogeneities across the scanned region. The NanoWorld AFM probe ensured stable tip–sample interaction, enabling high‑quality topographical and lateral force mapping. This article emphasizes the importance of selecting a reliable AFM probe for nanoscale membrane characterization.

4. Atomic Force Microscope image ((left): lateral retrace (scan size 100 × 100 μm), (right): particle size (scan size: 10 × 10 μm)).

Full Citation:

Farid Fadhillah. Fabrication of Thin-Film Composite Nanofiltration Membrane Employing Polyelectrolyte and Metal–Organic Framework (MOF) via Spin-Spray-Assisted Layer-by-Layer Assembly. Engineering Proceedings, 2025, 105(1). DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/engproc2025105003

Citing Licence

This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. © 2025 by the author. Published by MDPI.

Optimized positioning through maximized tip visibility – Arrow AFM probes screencast passes 500 views mark

The screencast about NanoWorld Arrow Silicon AFM probes held byNanoWorld AG CEO Manfred Detterbeck has just passed the 500 views mark. Congratulations Manfred!

NanoWorld Arrow™ AFM probes are designed for easy AFM tip positioning and high resolution AFM imaging and are very popular with AFM users due to the highly symetric scans that are possible with these AFM probes because of their special tip shape. They fit to all well-known commercial SPMs (Scanning Probe Microscopes) and AFMs (Atomic Force Microscopes). The Arrow AFM probe consists of an AFM probe support chip with an AFM cantilever which has a tetrahedral AFM tip at its triangular free end.

The Arrow AFM probe is entirely made of monolithic, highly doped silicon.

The unique Arrow™ shape of the AFM cantilever with the AFM tip always placed at the very end of the AFM cantilever allows easy positioning of the AFM tip on the area of interest.
The Arrow AFM probes are available for non-contact mode, contact mode and force modulation mode imaging and are also available with a conductive platinum iridum coating. Furthermore the Arrow™ AFM probe series also includes a range of tipless AFM cantilevers and AFM cantilever arrays as well as dedicated ultra-high frequency Arrow AFM probes for high speed AFM.

To find out more about the different variations please have a look at:

https://www.nanoworld.com/arrow-afm-tips

You can also find various application examples for the Arrow AFM probes in the NanoWorld blog. For a selection of these articles just click on the “Arrow AFM probes” tag on the bottom of this blog entry.

Real-Time Observation of Fibrous Zeolites Reactivity in Contact with Simulated Lung Fluids (SLFs) Obtained by Atomic Force Microscope (AFM)

Inhalation of fibrous erionite particles has been linked to malignant mesothelioma. Accordingly, erionite is considered the most carcinogenic mineral. The reactivity and the nature of erionite biotoxicity has been the subject of intensive research. Despite very close chemical and structural relationships between erionite and offretite, the reactivity of offretite in lung fluids remains unknown.*
In their paper “Real-Time Observation of Fibrous Zeolites Reactivity in Contact with Simulated Lung Fluids (SLFs) Obtained by Atomic Force Microscope (AFM)”, Matteo Giordani, Georgia Cametti, Fulvio Di Lorenzo and Sergey V. Churakov investigate the interaction of erionite and offretite surfaces with simulated lung fluids by means of in situ atomic force microscope (AFM).*

The outcomes presented in the paper mentioned above represent an important step in understanding the complex processes occurring at the surfaces of mineral fibres that could be involved in the toxicological pathway.*

The topography scans were performed in tapping mode with a NanoWorld Arrow-UHFAuD AFM probes under different experimental conditions.
To better discriminate the role of the tip from the actual fluid-surface interaction, additional measurements were performed in air and in water in contact mode using an Al-coated NanoWorld Arrow-CONTR AFM cantilever.

Figure 2 from M. Giordani et al. “Real-Time Observation of Fibrous Zeolites Reactivity in Contact with Simulated Lung Fluids (SLFs) Obtained by Atomic Force Microscope (AFM)”: Atomic force microscope (AFM) images of offretite FF surface, in MilliQ water at 25 °C, at different magnifications: (a) height retrace image of particles of different sizes on surface and related sections (d); (b) amplitude retrace image of particularly clean surface terraces and related section (c).

*Matteo Giordani, Georgia Cametti, Fulvio Di Lorenzo and Sergey V. Churakov
Real-Time Observation of Fibrous Zeolites Reactivity in Contact with Simulated Lung Fluids (SLFs) Obtained by Atomic Force Microscope (AFM)
Minerals 2019, 9(2), 83
DOI: https://doi.org/10.3390/min9020083

Please follow this external link for the full article: https://www.mdpi.com/403600

Open Access: The paper « Real-Time Observation of Fibrous Zeolites Reactivity in Contact with Simulated Lung Fluids (SLFs) Obtained by Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) » by Matteo Giordani, Georgia Cametti, Fulvio Di Lorenzo and Sergey V. Churakov is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License, which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The images or other third party material in this article are included in the article’s Creative Commons license, unless indicated otherwise in a credit line to the material. If material is not included in the article’s Creative Commons license and your intended use is not permitted by statutory regulation or exceeds the permitted use, you will need to obtain permission directly from the copyright holder. To view a copy of this license, visit http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/.