Polymer Graphite Pencil Lead as a Cheap Alternative for Classic Conductive SPM Probes

Abstract

This paper presents polymer graphite (PG) as a novel material for the scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) probe. Conductive PG is a relatively modern nanocomposite material used for micro-pencil rells containing a polymer-based binding agent and graphite akes. Its high conductivity and immunity against surface contamination, with a low price, make it seem like a highlysuitablematerialforelectrodemanufacturingingeneral. Forthetipproduction,threemethods were developed and are further described in the paper. For the production, three commercially available polymer graphite rods were used. Each has been discussed in terms of performance within the tunneling microscope and within other potential applications.