Scanning electrochemical cell microscopy: New perspectives on electrode processes in action

Abstract

Scanning electrochemical probe microscopy (SEPM) methods allow interfacial fluxes to be visualized at high spatial resolution and are consequently invaluable for understanding physicochemical processes at electrode/solution interfaces. This article highlights recent progress in scanning electrochemical cell microscopy (SECCM), a scanningdroplet based method that is able to visualize electrode activity free from topographical artefacts and, further, offers considerable versatility in terms of the range of interfaces and environments that can be studied. Advances in the speed and sensitivity of SECCM are highlighted, with applications as diverse as the creation of movies of electrochemical (electrocatalytic) processes in action to tracking the motion and activity of nanoparticles near electrode surfaces.

Interrogating metabolism as an electron flow system

“…In particular, we note that combined application of fluorescent reporters (as being increasingly used to interrogate cellular redox states and physiology (e.g. 41∗∗ , 100 , 101 , 102 , 103 , 104 )) and emerging nano-scale electrochemical probing methods [105] can provide powerful insights into the electron flow dynamics at cellular and population levels. These methods can be particularly suited to link metabolic dynamics to higher–level complex physiological processes such as cellular differentiations.…”

Array Microcell Method (AMCM) for Serial Electroanalysis

“…With these techniques, the importance of small scale, correlative approaches between electrochemical measurements and secondary techniques have also grown. This combination, small scale electrochemistry and supporting measurements, so‐called “correlative multi‐microscopy” approaches, has proven especially powerful for elucidating new information in nano‐ and micro‐electrochemical systems . Arrays provide a powerful tool to enable the bridge between different microscopy modes, and have found wide application, for instance in the combination of SECCM with transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) …”

“…This combination, small scale electrochemistry and supporting measurements, so-called "correlative multi-microscopy" approaches, has proven especially powerful for elucidating new information in nano-and microelectrochemical systems. [6] Arrays provide a powerful tool to enable the bridge between different microscopy modes, and have found wide application, for instance in the combination of SECCM with transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). [6][7] In these experiments, the array is typically an electron microscopy grid, which serves to collocate sample features.…”

“…[6] Arrays provide a powerful tool to enable the bridge between different microscopy modes, and have found wide application, for instance in the combination of SECCM with transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). [6][7] In these experiments, the array is typically an electron microscopy grid, which serves to collocate sample features. [3a,8] An alternative to high resolution imaging approaches, one that offers significant advances in terms of instrumental simplicity, is to instead create an array of small electrodes, which can then be addressed individually by a moving microcell (micropipette) approach.…”

Optical Nanoimpacts of Dielectric and Metallic Nanoparticles on Gold Surface by Reflectance Microscopy: Adsorption or Bouncing?

“…On one hand, the (electro)chemical activity of a surface can be mapped using scanning electrochemical probe microscopies (SEPMs) such as the scanning electrochemical microscopy which uses a micro/nanoelectrode to map the electrochemical activity of a surface [1]. More recently with the scanning electrochemical cell microscopy [2], a nanodroplet is spread over a surface forming a micro/nanosized electrochemical cell. These methods allow probing and mapping heterogeneities of surface, regarding their electrochemical reactivity, with sub-100 nm resolution.…”