Multidimensional electrochemical imaging in materials science

Raman Under Water - Nonlinear and Nearfield Approaches for Electrochemical Surface Science

Electrochemistry is re-gaining attention among scientists because the complex interplay between electronic and chemical interfacial processes lies at the bottom of a broad range of important research disciplines like alternative energy conversion or green catalysis and synthesis. While rapid progress has been made in recent years regarding novel technological applications, the community increasingly recognizes that the understanding of the molecular processes that govern macroscopic device properties is still rather limited - which hinders a systematic and more complete exploration of novel material and functionality space. Here, we discuss advanced Raman spectroscopies as valuable analysis tools for electrochemists. The chemical nature of a material and its interaction with the environment is contained in the label-free vibrational fingerprint over a broad energy range so that organic species, solid-state materials, and hybrids thereof can be investigated alike. For surface studies, the inherently small Raman scattering cross sections can be overcome with advanced nonlinear or nearfield-based approaches that provide signal enhancements between three and seven orders of magnitude, sufficient to detect few scatterers in nano-confined spaces or adsorbate (sub)monolayers. Our article highlights how advanced Raman techniques with extreme chemical, spatial and temporal resolution constitute valuable alternative surface analysis tools and provide otherwise inaccessible information about complex interfacial (electro)chemical processes.

Carbon steel corrosion: a review of key surface properties and characterization methods

The effects of surface morphology, defects, texture and energy on carbon steel corrosion are elucidated along with relevant characterization methods.

Influence of steric hindrance on the molecular packing and the anchoring of quinonoid zwitterions on gold surfaces

The N-substituent on quinonoid zwitterions influences the molecules packing and impacts their anchoring on gold surfaces.

Measuring localized redox enzyme electron transfer in a live cell with conducting atomic force microscopy

Bacterial systems are being extensively studied and modified for energy, sensors, and industrial chemistry; yet, their molecular scale structure and activity are poorly understood. Designing efficient bioengineered bacteria requires cellular understanding of enzyme expression and activity. An atomic force microscope (AFM) was modified to detect and analyze the activity of redox active enzymes expressed on the surface of E. coli. An insulated gold-coated metal microwire with only the tip conducting was used as an AFM cantilever and a working electrode in a three-electrode electrochemical cell. Bacteria were engineered such that alcohol dehydrogenase II (ADHII) was surface displayed. A quinone, an electron transfer mediator, was covalently attached site specifically to the displayed ADHII. The AFM probe was used to lift a single bacterium off the surface for electrochemical analysis in a redox-free buffer. An electrochemical comparison between two quinone containing mutants with different distances from the NAD(+) binding site in alcohol dehydrogenase II was performed. Electron transfer in redox active proteins showed increased efficiency when mediators are present closer to the NAD(+) binding site. This study suggests that an integrated conducting AFM used for single cell electrochemical analysis would allow detailed understanding of enzyme electron transfer processes to electrodes, the processes integral to creating efficiently engineered biosensors and biofuel cells.

Analytical expressions for quantitative scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM)

Scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM), is a recent analytical technique in electrochemistry, which was developed in the 1990s and uses microelectrodes to probe various surfaces. Even with the well-known disc microelectrodes, the system geometry is not as simple as in regular electrochemistry. As a consequence even the simplest experiments, the so-called positive and negative feedback approach curves, cannot be described with exact analytical expressions. This review gathers all the analytical expressions available in the SECM literature in steady-state feedback experiments. Some of them are claimed as general expressions, other are presented as approximate. Their validity is discussed in the light of the current understanding and computer facilities.

Scanning electrochemical microscopy in neuroscience

This article reviews recent work involving the application of scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) to the study of individual cultured living cells, with an emphasis on topographical and functional imaging of neuronal and secretory cells of the nervous and endocrine system. The basic principles of biological SECM and associated negative amperometric-feedback and generator/collector-mode SECM imaging are discussed, and successful use of the methodology for screening soft and fragile membranous objects is outlined. The drawbacks of the constant-height mode of probe movement and the benefits of the constant-distance mode of SECM operation are described. Finally, representative examples of constant-height and constant-distance mode SECM on a variety of live cells are highlighted to demonstrate the current status of single-cell SECM in general and of SECM in neuroscience in particular.

Investigation of Localized Catalytic and Electrocatalytic Processes and Corrosion Reactions with Scanning Electrochemical Microscopy (SECM)

Scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) has developed into a very versatile tool for the investigation of solid-liquid, liquid-liquid and liquid-gas interfaces. The arrangement of an ultramicroelectrode (UME) in close proximity to the interface under study allows the application of a large variety of different experimental schemes. The most important have been named feedback mode, generation-collection mode, redox competition mode and direct mode. Quantitative descriptions are available for the UME signal, depending on different sample properties and experimental variables. Therefore, SECM has been established as an indispensible tool in many areas of fundamental electrochemical research. Currently, it also spreads as an important new method to solve more applied problems, in which inhomogeneous current distributions are typically observed on different length scales. Prominent examples include devices for electrochemical energy conversion such as fuel cells and batteries as well as localized corrosion phenomena. However, the direct local investigation of such systems is often impossible. Instead, suitable reaction schemes, sample environments, model samples and even new operation modes have to be introduced in order to obtain results that are relevant to the practical application. This review outlines and compares the theoretical basis of the different SECM working modes and reviews the application in the area of electrochemical energy conversion and localized corrosion with a special emphasis on the problems encountered when working with practical samples.