Electrochemical nanostructure

PROBE-INDUCED ELECTROCHEMICAL NANOSTRUCTURING OF METALLIC SURFACES... 

This is not easy to understand, since on thermodynamic grounds clusters should be less stable than the bulk material. It is possible that clusters generated by electrochemical nanostructuring may undergo a certain degree of alloying with the material of the surface that could increase their stability. Indeed, Monte Carlo simulations show that if achievable, such alloying will improve the stability of the clusters toward dissolution. 

The first successful attempts of electrochemical nanostructuring, pioneered by Penner et al. [69], involved the generation of surface defects by the tip at predetermined positions, which were created either by a mechanical contact between tip and substrate (tip crash) or by some sort of sputtering process, initiated by high-voltage... 

Figure 5.15 Various approaches to electrochemical nanostructuring with an STM, currently employed by the community.

Electrochemical Nanostructuring of Surfaces Rolf Schuster and Gerhard Ertl... 

V. Kirchner, X. Xia, R. Schuster, Electrochemical nanostructuring with ultrashort voltage pulses. Acc. Chem. Res. 34, 371-377, 2001. 

Structures made by electrochemical nanostructuring of semiconductors show photonic band gap tunable with the period of structure, nanostmcture sizes and their dielectric surroundings. Experiments demonstrate both phase matching for second-harmonic generation and an enhancement of second- and third-harmonic generation efficiencies in the nanostructured materials. 

D.M. Kolb, RC. Simeone, Electrochemical nanostructuring with an STM a status report, Electrochim. Acta... 

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