Colloque Electrochimie dans les Nanosciences 3

Convolution of topography and local electrochemical activity
in SECM imaging.
Constant distance mode SECM as a prerequisite for high-resolution electrochemical imaging

Wolfgang Schuhmann

Analytische Chemie – Elektroanalytik & Sensorik;

Ruhr-Universität Bochum; Universitätsstr. 150; D-44780 Bochum; email: wolfgang.schuhmann@rub.de

Convolution of topography and local electrochemical activity prevents not only the successful use of nanoelectrodes in SECM but also the in depth interpretation of the obtained SECM images.

Here, problems and limitations of constant-height imaging in SECM will be discussed and technical solutions will be provided to overcome these limitations. Among these a procedure for automatic tilt compensation and a number of techniques to applying shearforce based constant distance imaging in SECM will be discussed. Examples directed to the visualization of diffusion zones using sub-µm electrodes, the detection of the release of compounds from individual living cells upon stimulation, as well as combination of shearforce based constant distance imaging with different SECM detection modes will be discussed.

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Acknowledgement:

The author is grateful to all present and past coworkers who were involved in developments concerning constant-distance imaging in SECM: Christine Kranz, Andreas Hengstenberg, Bernardo Ballesteros Katemann, Mathieu Etienne, Thomas Erichsen, Kathrin Eckhard, Sebastian Neugebauer, Sonnur Isik, Albert Schulte, Emad Mohamed Hussien Aly, Dominik Schäfer, Michaela Nebel