Quantitative theory, scanning electrochemical microscopy

Scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM the same abbreviation is also used for the device, i.e., the microscope) is often compared (and sometimes confused) with scanning tunneling microscopy (STM), which was pioneered by Binning and Rohrer in the early 1980s [1]. While both techniques make use of a mobile conductive microprobe, their principles and capabilities are totally different. The most widely used SECM probes are micrometer-sized ampero-metric ultramicroelectrodes (UMEs), which were introduced by Wightman and co-workers 1980 [2]. They are suitable for quantitative electrochemical experiments, and the well-developed theory is available for data analysis. Several groups employed small and mobile electrochemical probes to make measurements within the diffusion layer [3], to examine and modify electrode surfaces [4, 5], However, the SECM technique, as we know it, only became possible after the introduction of the feedback concept [6, 7],... 

McGeouch, C. A., Edwards, M. A., Mbogoro, M., Parkinson, C., Unwin, P. R. Scanning electrochemical microscopy as a quantitative probe of acid-induced dissolution Theory and application to dental enamel. Anal. Chem. 2010, 82, 9233. 

Snowden, M.E., Giiell, A.G., Lai, S.C.S. et al. (2012) Scanning electrochemical cell microscopy theory and experiment for quantitative high resolution spatially-resolved voltammetry and simultaneous ion-conductance measurements. Analytical Chemistry, 84, 2483-2491. 

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