Coupling electrochemistry with Backside Absorbing Layer Microscopy (BALM) for in-situ imaging surface reactions

K Jaouen (1) , S. Campidelli (1) , B. Jousselme (1) , D. Ausserré (2) , V. Derycke (1) , R. Cornut (1)

1 LICSEN - Laboratoire Innovation en Chimie des Surfaces et NanoSciences
2 IMMM - Institut des Molécules et Matériaux du Mans

Backside Absorbing Layer Microscopy (BALM) is a new optical microscopy technique, which uses absorbing anti-reflection layers to achieve extreme contrast at an interface. It combines the vertical sub-nm sensitivity of an AFM with the versatility and real-time imaging capabilities of an optical microscope. Recently, we showed how this technique allows observing 2D materials and their chemical modification with unprecedented resolution. As an example, Fig. 1 displays single-layer graphene oxide flakes observed with BALM. It notably allows to directly identifying stacks, folds, wrinkles and defects. The BALM geometry and its capability to image surfaces and nanomaterials in liquid are ideally suited to its coupling with electrochemistry. As a simple example, Fig. 2 presents the in situ monitoring of the electrodeposition of copper on gold by chronoamperometry. In this communication, we will specifically focus on such coupling and demonstrate its potential to address different class of problems related to electro-catalysis, electro-grafting, etc.

Domains: Material chemistry

K Jaouen, S. Campidelli, B. Jousselme, D. Ausserré, V. Derycke, et al.. Coupling electrochemistry with Backside Absorbing Layer Microscopy (BALM) for in-situ imaging surface reactions. Journées d’Electrochimie 2017, Jun 2017, Bordeaux, France. ⟨cea-02341294⟩