Noncontact Atomic Force Microscopy for Studies of Biomolecules in Liquids

Abstract—Noncontact atomic force microscopy, a type of scanning probe microscopy, has been actively used in the last 2 decades to study hydrated biomolecules. In particular, as the analysis of modern literature shows, it is very promising in the study of adsorbed biomacromolecules and biomacromolecular complexes at the interface or on the surface of membranes. This mini-review describes the basics of this method and its application to biomolecules; the requirements for the method and the possibilities of its extension due to additional processing of the experimental data obtained using theoretical analysis, molecular modeling and machine learning are discussed.