Nanogap Electrochemistry of Interfacial Charge-Transfer Reactions

在化学系化学测量和成像项目的支持下，匹兹堡大学Shigeru Amemiya教授和他的团队将利用纳米间隙（宽度为10纳米的间隙）开发一种结合循环伏安法（CV）和扫描电化学显微镜（SECM）的新型电化学方法。Amemiya实验室开发的基于纳米间隙的方法克服了广泛使用的CV和SECM方法的局限性，能够以极高的速率在横向非均质表面上进行界面电荷转移反应的全新测量。多功能纳米电化学方法将有助于表征纳米材料，如单层石墨烯和电催化纳米颗粒，以及研究快速电荷转移反应，如氧化还原活性自组装单层上的电子转移和液/液界面上的离子转移。这些研究将极大地增加我们对界面电荷转移反应的知识和理解，这是未来能量转换和存储、分子电子学、离子传感和分离等技术发展的基础，也是各个科学领域，特别是电化学、纳米科学和材料科学的基础进步。通过定制纳米电极的商业化和数据分析模拟程序的共享，将加速纳米间隙电化学方法作为常规实验工具在科学界的实施。通过开发铅笔芯伏安电极作为一种教育工具来发现各种离子的亲脂性，这是与它们的环境毒性和药物活性相关的关键分子性质，将促进电化学研究与本科教学的整合。

With support from the Chemical Measurement and Imaging Program in the Division of Chemistry, Professor Shigeru Amemiya at University of Pittsburgh and his group will be utilizing a nanogap (a gap with a width of 10 nm) to develop the novel electrochemical method that combines cyclic voltammetry (CV) with scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM). The nanogap-based approach that was developed in the Amemiya laboratory overcomes the limitations of widely used CV and SECM methods and enables completely new measurements of interfacial charge-transfer reactions at extremely high rates on laterally heterogeneous surfaces. The versatile nanoelectrochemical method will be useful for the characterization of nanomaterials such as monolayer graphene and electrocatalytic nanoparticles, as well as for investigation of rapid charge-transfer reactions such as electron transfer at redox-active self-assembled monolayers and ion transfer at liquid/liquid interfaces. Such studies will massively augment our knowledge and understanding of interfacial charge-transfer reactions, which are the basis of future technological developments in energy conversion and storage, molecular electronics, and ion sensing and separation in addition to fundamental advancements in various scientific areas, especially, in electrochemistry, nanosceince, and material science. The implementation of the nanogap-based electrochemical method as a routine experimental tool among scientific community will be accelerated by commercializing tailor-made nanoelectrodes and by sharing simulation programs for data analysis. The integration of the electrochemical research into undergraduate teaching will be promoted by the development of pencil-lead-based voltammetric electrodes as an educational tool to discover the lipophilicity of various ions as the critical molecular property related to their environmental toxicity and pharmaceutical activity.