Electrochemical Scanning Tunneling Microscopy Analysis on Protein Based Electronic Devices

Abstract

Scanning probe microscopy (SPM) techniques demonstrate one of the most promising tools to investigate the physical and chemical properties of materials at nanoscale and become the most common and important characterization tools in the field of nanotechnology. Among many SPM methods electrochemical scanning tunneling microscopy (EC-STM) technique is one technique that directly provides three-dimensional real-space images with in-situ interfacial electrochemical studies and allows locally measured properties of nanostructured materials at atomic resolution. Furthermore, EC-STM based studies provides information on solution covered areas of electrode surfaces, metal deposition, charge transfer, potential-dependent surface morphology, corrosion, semiconductors, and various applications such as protein conductance measurements in nanobioelectronics. Therefore, in this review, we summarize the electrochemical scanning tunneling microscopic investigation on protein based electrode structures and their applications towards novel bioelectronic devices along with recent developments in ECSTM techniques with future prospects in the field of nanobiotechnology.

Operando Scanning Electrochemical Probe Microscopy during Electrocatalysis

“…One of the limitations of EC-STM is the slow scanning process, which makes it difficult to couple measurements simultaneously for operando studies. For this reason, in situ analysis is often used to evaluate morphological changes on surfaces, such as to investigate protein/enzyme covered surfaces, 280 − 284 metallic crystalline interfaces, 272 , 285 electrocatalysts, 286 − 288 and battery materials. 289 , 290 EC-STM was employed to study the topographical changes on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG), that was polarized to invoke intercalation of Li ions.…”

“…One of the limitations of EC-STM is the slow scanning process, which makes it difficult to couple measurements simultaneously for operando studies. For this reason, in situ analysis is often used to evaluate morphological changes on surfaces, such as to investigate protein/enzyme covered surfaces, − metallic crystalline interfaces, , electrocatalysts, − and battery materials. , EC-STM was employed to study the topographical changes on highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG), that was polarized to invoke intercalation of Li ions. , The results indicated that the exfoliation process took place at the HOPG edges instead of at the basal planes. Recently, Wan and Wang used the approach of sequentially polarizing the surface and intermittently acquiring EC-STM images to study the mechanisms of CO 2 RR and ORR on an adlayer of a cobalt-phthalocyanine catalyst on a gold surface. , In parallel, Itaya’s group used EC-STM to investigate the correlation between the morphology and applied potentials in the formation of regularly patterned adlayers of Zn­(II)­phthalocyanine and a zinc metalloporphyrin on the crystalline surfaces of Au(111) or Au(100) .…”

WiFi‐controlled portable atomic force microscope

“…In recent years, great advancements have been achieved in nano‐technology (Hussain, ; Valcárcel & López‐Lorente, ), which stimulates the development of several disciplines, such as electronics (Choi, Lee, Ghaffari, Hyeon, & Kim, ; Verma, Kim, & Gu, ), microbiology (Biswaro, Sousa, Rezende, Dias, & Franco, ), polymer science (Lyu & Pu, ), agronomy (Chung et al, ; Sadeghi, Rodriguez, Yao, & Kokini, ), and pharmacy (Martinho et al, ). The scanning probe microscope (SPM), which can be best represented by both scanning tunneling microscope (STM) and atomic force microscope (AFM), acts as the pillar supporting the continued nano‐researches (Clayton, Tien, Leang, Zou, & Devasia, ; Yagati, Lee, Nam, Cho, & Choi, ). AFM stands out in the researches because it enables sensitive detections free from the intrinsic limitations of electrical conductivity of micro/nano samples and works in diverse conditions, that is, air, vacuum, and liquid (Ando, Uchihashi, & Fukuma, ; Fu, Zhang, Zhang, & Xie, ).…”