Regensburg 2022 – scientific programme

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O: Fachverband Oberflächenphysik

O 20: Poster Monday: Solid-Liquid Interfaces

O 20.6: Poster

Monday, September 5, 2022, 18:00–20:00, P4

Visualizing electrochemical interfaces with combined AFM/STM — •Andrea Auer, Bernhard Eder, and Franz Giessibl — Institute of Experimental and Applied Physics, University of Regensburg, Germany

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) that can be simultaneously performed with scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) modes using metallic tips attached to self-sensing quartz cantilevers (qPlus sensors) has advanced the field of surface science by allowing for unprecedented high spatial resolution under ultrahigh vacuum conditions. Applying a qPlus sensor-based AFM/STM setup to electrochemistry could offer new and groundbreaking possibilities to locally image both the 3D layering of the interfacial water and the lateral structure of the electrochemical double layer. In this work, a home-built AFM/STM instrument equipped with a qPlus sensor for operation under precise potential control in an electrochemical liquid cell is presented. Special care is taken in the preparation of etched Pt/Ir tips, which are attached to the qPlus sensor and subsequently coated with insulating wax to allow for both AFM and STM measurements in the electrolyte with minimal leak currents. Ongoing work includes investigations of the potential-dependent structural interface organization of the electrochemical double layer on both highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) and Au(111) electrodes in acidic media by means of (simultaneous) AFM/STM imaging and force spectroscopy.