Development and Acquisition of Surface Sensitive Electrochemical Instrumentation using Evanescent Wave and Nonlinear-Optical Techniques for Research and Education

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This grant supports the development and acquisition of surface sensitive electrochemical instrumentation using evanescent wave and nonlinear-optical techniques for research and education at the University of Houston. The development of new surface sensitive spectroscopic and microscopic electrochemical instrumentation will be accomplished by simultaneously: 1) combining scanning probe microscopy (SPM) and surface plasmon spectroscopy (SPS) with electrochemical methods, and 2) combining sum-frequency generation (SFG) and scanning near-field optical microscopy (SNOM) with electrochemical methods. These two unique systems will give in-situ linear and nonlinear optical and spectroscopic information in electrochemical phenomena simultaneous with morphological and nanoscale imaging from atomic force microscopy (AFM) and SNOM. These instruments will impact the study of electrode/electrolyte interfaces and the synthesis and investigation of materials by electrochemical methods. A focus is on applying the two instruments and methods on established electrochemical investigative methods, e.g. cyclic voltammetry, potentiostatic, amperometric experiments, etc. By simultaneously coupling optical evanescent spectroscopies and scanning probe microscopies, unique characterization of temporal and spatial properties at each stage of an electrochemical cycle can be accomplished. This will also advance the state of the art in nanometer-scale measurement and analysis especially with increasing SPM resolution methods. By conducting SFG on surfaces simultaneous with the electrochemistry experiment, orientational and tensor parameters of molecules directly at the solid-liquid interface can be determined. All these studies are likewise applicable to nanoscale materials at the interface, e.g. nanoparticles, nanolithographic patterns, and nanoscale hybrid materials systems. These two complementary capabilities will create a unique optical, electrochemical, and SPM system with wide applications in interface electrochemistry.The University of Houston has a strong materials research program and faculty that will greatly benefit from these instruments. These instruments will be transitioned to the broader scientific community after development and optimization. This will be done through various collaborations with university, government, and industrial research centers of excellence. Two graduate students experienced in instrumentation development and an undergraduate will participate in configuring and developing the new instruments at various stages. They will greatly benefit from the unique research and education opportunities these instruments will provide. They will also serve as expert trainers in disseminating the use of the instrumentation to other students and collaborators.