Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochem. Eng. Aspects 500 (2016) 203–213 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Colloids and Surfaces A: Physicochemical and Engineering Aspects journa l h om epage: www.elsevier.com/locate/colsurfa Development of in situ soft colloidal probe atomic force microscopy for probing the adhesion between wood extractives and model surfaces Yuen Yue Tham a , Karen R. Stack a , Desmond E. Richardson b , Paul J. Molino c , Michael J. Higgins c , Trevor W. Lewis a,∗ a University of Tasmania, School of Physical Sciences (Chem), Hobart, Tas 7001, Australia b Norske Skog Paper Mills Australia Ltd, Boyer, Tas 7140, Australia c University of Wollongong, ARC Centre of Excellence Electromaterials Science, Intelligent Polymer Research Institute, AIIM Facility, Wollongong, NSW, Australia h i g h l i g h t s • A new method developed to attach soft colloid onto tipless AFM can- tilever. • Adhesion forces of abietic acid and wood extractives (WE) are lowest on cellulose. • On chromium, adhesion forces are highest for abietic acid (AA) and WE. • Adhesion forces of AA and WE on cellulose and chromium are compa- rable. • AA, instead of TrO and OA, prefer- entially transfers from cellulose to chromium. g r a p h i c a l a b s t r a c t a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 29 January 2016 Received in revised form 4 April 2016 Accepted 8 April 2016 Available online 13 April 2016 Keywords: Wood extractives Model compound Colloidal probe atomic force microscopy Force measurement Cellulose Chromium a b s t r a c t A new method to attach colloidal particles in situ directly onto atomic force microscopy (AFM) cantilevers was developed and used as colloidal probes. In this method, cantilever surfaces were hydrophobically functionalised and the colloids adhered without glue in an aqueous environment. Experiments measuring the interaction forces between colloidal probes, composed of either wood extractives or a range of model compounds normally present in wood extractives, and glass, cel- lulose, and chromium surfaces were carried out. Wood extractive colloids exhibited the strongest adhesion to glass control surface (7.0 mN m −1 ), followed in decreasing order by triolein, abietic acid and oleic acid colloids (3.9 mN m −1 , 2.2 mN m −1 and 1.2 mN m −1 respectively). Adhesion onto a cellulose surface was strongest for triolein colloids (8.1 mN m −1 ) followed by oleic acid colloids (6.1 mN m −1 ), while adhesion forces for abietic acid and wood extractives colloids were similar (4.9 mN m −1 and 4.3 mN m −1 , respectively). When attached to a chromium surface adhesion forces of abietic acid and wood extractives were strongest and similar (3.6 mN m −1 and 3.9 mN m −1 , respectively); the weakest interaction at this surface was recorded for oleic acid colloids (0.8 mN m −1 ). Similar adhesion forces Abbreviations: AA, abietic acid; AFM, atomic force microscopy; NaCl, sodium chloride; OA, oleic acid; PEI, poly(ethylene)imine; TrO, triolein; WE, wood extractives. ∗ Corresponding author. E-mail address: Trevor.Lewis@utas.edu.au (T.W. Lewis). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.colsurfa.2016.04.023 0927-7757/© 2016 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.