Atomic Force Microscopy (AFM) Tip based Nanoelectrode with Hydrogel Electrolyte and Application to Single-Nanoparticle Electrochemistry

초록

An unconventional fabrication technique of nanoelectrode was developed using atomic force microscopy (AFM) and hydrogel. Until now the precise control of electroactive area down to a few nm has always been an obstacle which limits the wide application of nanoelectrodes. Here the nanometer-sized contact between the boron-doped diamond (BDD) as2 conductive AFM tip and the agarose hydrogel as solid electrolyte was well governed by the feedback amplitude of oscil-lation in the non-contact mode of AFM. Consequently this low-cost and feasible approach gives rise to new possibilities for the fabrication of nanoelectrodes. The electroactive area controlled by the set point of AFM was investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV) of the ferrocenmethanol (FcMeOH) combined with quasi-solid agarose hydrogel as an electrolyte. Single copper (Cu) nanoparticle was deposited at the apex of the AFM tip using this platform whose electrocatalytic activity for nitrate reduction was then investigated by CV and Field Emission-Scanning Electron Microscopy (FE-SEM) respectively. © 2024 Korean Electrochemical Society. All rights reserved.

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