Kelvin Probe: Kelvin Probe Force Microscopy as a Tool for the Characterization of Nanomaterials

Kelvin probe force microscopy (KPFM), which was introduced by Nonnenmacher et  al. (1990), is a scanning probe microscopy technique that enables imaging the surface potential map at nanometer scale on a wide range of materials. It is created by incorporating the principle of atomic force microscopy (AFM) with Kelvin methods; in this way, various information about the sample surface such as surface potential, work function, and surface topography can be obtained simultaneously.