Evidence map›Paper›PMID 42403039›Full record

ArticleSmall methods2026

Mapping Nanoscale Heterogeneity in Soft Materials With Modified Tapping-Mode AFM.

Arindam Phani, Eric Finot, Seonghwan Kim, Thomas Thundat

Abstract read
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Article in Small methods, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
0citing papers in PubMed
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

0 citing papers in PubMed.

No citing paper in PubMed yet.

4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

4 authors.

Arindam PhaniDepartment of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Eric FinotLaboratoire Interdisciplinaire Carnot De Bourgogne ICB UMR 6303, CNRS, Université Bourgogne Europe, Dijon, France.
Seonghwan KimDepartment of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering, University of Calgary, Calgary, Alberta, Canada.
Thomas ThundatChemical and Biological Engineering, University At Buffalo (SUNY), Buffalo, New York, USA.ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1721-1181

Funding

Canada Research Chairs CRC-020-00322
6 · The paper itself

Abstract

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) in tapping mode is widely used to image soft materials with minimal damage, but its brief tip-sample contact limits sensitivity to local mechanical response. Here, we introduce a modified tapping regime in which the tip maintains weak continuous contact during scanning, enhancing the detection of local deformation, relaxation, and energy dissipation that cannot be resolved by conventional tapping. We demonstrate this approach by imaging soft insulin aggregates as a representative biological soft-matter system, revealing finer internal heterogeneity and localized nanodomain-scale dissipation-linked features referenced to a sub-k

Indexed as

energy dissipation imaginglocal mechanical heterogeneitynanoscale heterogeneitysoft biological materialstapping mode AFM

Identifiers

PMID42403039
PMCPMC13505678

What OpenQuestion holds

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Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.