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

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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.