title: Nanometer Scale Scanning Electrochemical Microscopy Instrumentation.
abstract: We report the crucial components required to perform scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) with nanometer-scale resolution. The construction and modification of the software and hardware instrumentation for nanoscale SECM are explicitly explained including (1) the LabVIEW code that synchronizes the SECM tip movement with the electrochemical response, (2) the construction of an isothermal chamber to stabilize the nanometer scale gap between the tip and substrate, (3) the modification of a commercial bipotentiostat to avoid electrochemical tip damage during SECM experiments, and (4) the construction of an SECM stage to avoid artifacts in SECM images. These findings enabled us to successfully build a nanoscale SECM, which can be utilized to map the electrocatalytic activity of individual nanoparticles in a typical ensemble sample and study the structure/reactivity relationship of single nanostructures.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, The University of Rhode Island , Kingston, Rhode Island 02881, United States.
authors.forename: Jiyeon
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Kim
authors.affiliation: Laboratoire de Physique de la Matière Condensée, Ecole Polytechnique Palaiseau , 91128 Palaiseau, France.
authors.forename: Christophe
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Renault
authors.affiliation: The Institute of Inorganic Chemistry and Electrochemistry, Tbilisi State University , Tbilisi 0179, Georgia.
authors.forename: Nikoloz
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Nioradze
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, University of California Santa Barbara , Santa Barbara, California 93111, United States.
authors.forename: Netzahualcóyotl
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Arroyo-Currás
authors.affiliation: Center for Environmentally Beneficial Catalysis, Department of Chemical and Petroleum Engineering, The University of Kansas , Lawrence, Kansas 66047, United States.
authors.forename: Kevin C
authors.initials: KC
authors.lastname: Leonard
authors.affiliation: Center for Electrochemistry, Department of Chemistry, The University of Texas at Austin , Austin, Texas 78712, United States.
authors.forename: Allen J
authors.initials: AJ
authors.lastname: Bard