Synthetic melanin thin films:: Structural and electrical properties

Scanning probe microscopy was used to investigate the structural and electrical organization at the nanoscopic level of hydrated melanin thin films synthesized by oxidizing L-3-(3,4-dihydroxyphenyl)-alanine (L-dopa) in dimethyl sulfoxide. Atomic force microscopy (AFM) provided the morphologies of the L-dopa melanin films. Electrostatic force microscopy and conductive-AFM were used to spatially resolve the electrical properties of the material. Using a simple parallel plate capacitor model a method to measure the charge distribution on the sample was developed. The correlations between topography, electric charge, and current images of the sample demonstrated that the hydration process produces a restructuring of melanin observed not only through topographic variations, but also through the creation of areas with different electrical properties. (C) 2004 American Institute of Physics.