Abstract

Scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) has experienced tremendous interest within the last decade for the characterization of nanomaterials based on improvements in resolution, instrumental hardware, and imaging modalities for in situ or operando investigations. These improvements in instrumentation in combination with the development of nanoscopic probes opened the way to investigate nanoscopic object in respect to (electro)activity with unprecedented resolution comparable to well-established scanning probe techniques such as atomic force microscopy. In addition, the combination of SECM with complementary SPM techniques and other analytical methods such as spectroscopies (e.g., Raman and IR spectroscopy) or mass spectrometry allows multifunctional data acquisition correlated in space and time. The characterization of nanomaterials requires methods, which provide high-resolution information down to the single entity in terms of physical and chemical properties and associated functionality. This chapter will give an introduction to scanning electrochemical microscopy, its imaging modes, the recent developments in terms of high-resolution imaging and the associated challenges. In addition, an overview on applications related to nanoscience will be provided emphasizing the advantages of correlating size and shape to the (re)activity of nanomaterials.