Development of a novel atomic force microscope for use in water and its applications to the dinamic analysis of electrode processes

研制了一种新型的超高真空真空原子力显微镜（UHV-AFM），用于在亚纳米到微米的宽分辨率范围内对电化学反应的局部机理进行原位动力学分析。这种原位原子力显微镜能够以足够快的速度获得图像，实时观察许多化学、电化学和生物过程。在不同的电解界面环境下，对电极表面进行了AFM原位观察的基础研究。利用循环伏安法和原位原子力显微镜对不同金属电极表面进行了电化学和原子力显微镜表征。钯电极的表面轮廓具有非常多孔的结构，在KCl和HCl的无氧溶液中表现出有趣的电位行为。用该方法研究了聚取代吡咯在ito光学透明电极上的电氧化过程。这种原位AFM可能是一种有趣的新方法，可以用来理解液固界面上的各种现象，如电沉积、金属腐蚀、被动层形成等。

A novel vacuum atomic force microscope in ultra-high vacuum (UHV-AFM), in an innert gas atmosphere and in water has been developed for the in-situ dynamic analyzes of the local mechanism of electrochemical reactions in a wide resolution range between sub-nm and mum-dimensions. This in-situ AFM can obtain images fast enough to observe many chemical, electrochemical and biological processes in real time.The fundamental studies on in-situ AFM observation of the electrode surfaces were carried out under various electrolytic interfacial environment. The electrochemical and AFM characterizations of various metal electrode surfaces were performed by using cyclic voltammetry and in-situ AFM.The surface profile of a palladium electrode gave very porous structure and showed interesting potentiometric behavior in oxygen free solutions of KCl and HCl. The electrooxidation processes of polysubstituted pyrrole on ITO-optically transparent electrode were also investigated by this method.This in-situ AFM may prove an interesting new method to understanding diverse phenomenon at liquid-solid interfaces, such as electrodeposition, metal corrosion, passive layr formation, etc.