THE COMBINED USE OF THE CAVITY-MICROELECTRODE AND THE SCANNING ELECTROCHEMICAL MICROSCOPE

In this communication we introduce the use of the cavity-microelectrode (C-ME) as a versatile SECM tip. The C-ME consists of a recessed disk tip that can host a known amount of a desired finely dispersed material [1-3]. Adopting a C-ME as SECM tip opens the access to an almost infinite variety of tip materials, for which the corresponding micro-wires needed to prepare the tips are not available. The first part of the work is therefore devoted to verify the effectiveness of a filled C-ME as an SECM tip, e.g. by evaluating the approach curves. The combined C-ME_SECM is then adopted for screening materials as catalysts for energetic applications. [1] Cachet-Vivier, C.; Vivier, V.; Cha, C. S.; Nedelec, J.-Y.; Yu, L. T. Electrochim. Acta 2001, 47, 181. [2] Locatelli, C.; Minguzzi, A.; Cava, P.; Vertova, A.; Rondinini S. Anal. Chem. 2011, 83, 2819 [3] Minguzzi, A.; Locatelli, C.; Cappelletti, G.; Bianchi, C. L.; Vertova, A.; Ardizzone, S.; Rondinini, S. J. Mater. Chem 2012, 22, 8896