(Invited) SECM and Photo-SECM on TEM Grids: Toward Correlated Electrochemical/TEM Imaging of Catalysts

Abstract

Understanding and improving the properties of photocatalysts and electrocatalysts can have important implications for energy conversion and storage. Studying heterogeneous catalysts is challenging because their activity depends strongly on local atomic structures. Therefore, probing electrocatalytic reactions at specific local sites is critically important. By correlating the scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) data with atomic scale structural and bonding information obtained by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) techniques with one-to-one correspondence, one can elucidate the nature of the active sites. To enable multi-technique imaging of the same nanoscale portion of the catalytic surface, we are developing methodology for using a TEM finder grid as a substrate in SECM experiments. In this paper, we present the results of first nanoscale SECM and photo-SECM experiments on carbon TEM grids, including imaging of semiconductor nanorods.