The potential use of atomic force microscopy for studying corrosion of metals in the presence of bacterial biofilms — an overview

This communication outlines the principles of application of scanning probe microscopy (SPM) as a tool for studying physico-chemical and biological phenomena and discusses the potential use of atomic force microscopy (AFM) , a form of SPM, for investigation of bacterial biofilms formed on metal surfaces and for studying corrosion of these surfaces in the presence of such biofilms. AFM images showing biofilms developed in pure cultures of either Pseudomonas species on copper, or by a marine isolate of sulphate-reducing bacterium on 304 stainless steel are presented to demonstrate usefulness of the SPM technique for both quantitative and qualitative determination of biocorrosion.