ECMS and secondary ion mass spectrometry SIMS

Electrochemical mass spectrometry (ECMS)41 and secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS)42,43 

Mass spectrometry (MS) is a gas-phase technique in which atoms or molecules present in the spectrometer chamber are ionized, and follow a trajectory through applied electric and magnetic fields which separates them according to their mass/charge ratio. A number of procedures have been developed to enable MS to be used for analysing species in the liquid and solid phases, and are based on species extraction into the gas phase. These include plasma desorption, ion bombardment, thermospray and electrospray ionization, and laser desorption. In this section we concentrate on techniques useful to electrochemistry. 

To complement electrochemical studies two types of interface between 

In the latter case, solution entering a vaporizer probe attached to the electrochemical cell is rapidly vaporized by resistive heating and sucked into the MS by the vacuum. Applications of ECMS have been in mechanistic analysis, and in the fields of electrocatalysis, batteries, sensors, and corrosion. 

Adsorbates on solid electrode surfaces can also be examined by MS if they are removed from the surface by bombardment with a high-energy primary ion beam. The species removed are secondary ions derived from the surface constituents and are detected by the mass analyser (Fig. 12.12). Thus the technique is referred to as secondary ion mass spectrometry (SIMS). It turns out that sensitivity is greater than with AES or XPS. The obvious disadvantage is the destruction of the top layers of the solid and implantation in the solid of ions used in the bombardment. 

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