High throughput SECM imaging: Development and applications

EPFL的分析和物理电化学实验室(LEPA)和奥尔登堡大学(UOL)的实验室凝聚态物质接口和电化学(UOL)之间的这项联合赠款申请的目的是将前者的设备微制造专业知识与后者的仪器设计和数据处理相结合，以开发扫描电化学显微镜(SECM)的新概念，具体目的是对现有技术无法实现的大面积成像。该方案的要点是微机械软TIPP阵列的设计、制造和测试，用于每次扫描并行记录32行图像。这一新的方法将特别用于成像蛋白质分离中使用的银染2D凝胶和/或它们各自的斑点。同样，它还将用于进一步开发最近与洛桑大学法医科学实验室合作开发的指纹成像技术。我们还将应用它来研究通过溴生成进行的表面改性，并测试技术涂层的缺陷。在第二阶段，我们想要开发一种具有内置微通道的新软尖概念，以便成像干燥的衬底，电解液在尖端输送，就像自来水笔尖的墨水一样。这也将不仅用于成像干燥样品的表面反应性，如腐蚀的金属，而且还用于选择性地蚀刻表面，目的是通过电沉积或电嫁接在干燥的表面上形成图案或写字。

The aim of this combined grant application between the Laboratory of Analytical and Physical Electrochemistry (LEPA) from EPFL and the laboratory Condensed Matter Interfaces and Electrochemistry from Oldenburg University (UOL) is to combine the device microfabrication expertise of the former and the instrument design and data processing of the latter to develop new concepts in Scanning ElectroChemical Microscopy (SECM) with the specific aim to image large area that cannot performed with the existing technology. The gist of this proposal is the design, fabrication and tests of micro-machined soft Tipp arrays for the parallel recording of a 32-line image per scan. This novel methodology will be used in particular to image silver-stained 2D gels used in protein separation, and/or their respective blots. Similarly, it will also be used to develop further the fingerprint imaging technology recently developed in collaboration with the Forensic Science Laboratory at the University of Lausanne. We shall apply it also to study the surface modification by bromine generation, and to test technical coatings for defects. In a second stage, we would like to develop a new soft-tip concept with built-in microchannels so as to image dry substrates, the electrolyte being delivered at the tip like the ink at the tip of a fountain pen. This will also be used not only to image the surface reactivity of dry samples such as corroded metals but also to etch selectively surfaces with the aim to pattern them or to write on dry surfaces by electrodeposition or electrografting.