Scanning Electrochemical Microscopy as a Tool for Local Investigation of Surface Reactivities Seminar
- Time:
- 16:00
- Date:
- 12 February 2014
- Venue:
- 27/2001 Chemistry Highfield University of Southampton Southampton SO17 1BJ
For more information regarding this seminar, please email Dr Andrew Hector at A.L.Hector@soton.ac.uk .
Event details
Part of the electrochemistry seminar series
Prof Gunther Wittstock
Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg
Scanning Electrochemical Microscopy as a Tool for Local Investigation of Surface Reactivities
Scanning electrochemical microscopy has opened up new direction for functional characterization of materials, for the exploration of new concepts in electrochemistry and for the optimization of sensors and sensor components and biomimetic surfaces (Wittstock et al, Angew. Chem. Intl. Ed. 2007, 46, 1584). While the initial phase of SECM has seen progress mainly in the establishment of new imaging modes and demonstration of their applicability to classes of problems using well-defined model samples in connection to continuum simulation of idealized experiments, the focus is currently shifting considerably towards more complex samples and less ideal reactions (e.g. in electrochemical energy conversion systems). This opens up more direct relation to application but also poses new difficulties for the quantitative understanding of the experiments. After an introduction to the imaging principles using functional organic thin films as examples, the vivid development of new imaging modes aiming to follow irreversible reaction at the sample surface will be presented.
Speaker information
Prof Gunther Wittstock, Carl von Ossietzky University of Oldenburg. Prof. Dr. Gunther Wittstock studied chemistry at the University of Leipzig (Diploma 1991) and obtained a PhD in Analytical Chemistry in 1994. During that time he worked 11 months with W.R. Heineman (University of Cincinnati, OH, USA). The long standing expertise of the Wittstock group in scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) has its roots in this period. After a Humboldt fellowship with H.-L. Schmidt and W. Schuhmann at the Technical University of Munich, he made his habilitation in physical chemistry about the application of electrochemical surface-spectroscopic and scanning probe microscopic techniques (SECM, AFM, STM) for the characterization and local manipulation of reactivities at the solid-liquid interface (2001). He accepted a call on a Chair of Physical Chemistry at the University of Oldenburg in 2001 where he worked since then. He is the director of the graduate program Interface Science at the Oldenburg Graduate School Science and Technology (OLTECH, www.oltech.org). He has authored >120 peer reviewed research papers and several book chapters. His research interest include scanning probe techniques, in particulare hyphenated techniques, spectroelectrochemistry and their application to various fields such as sensor , implant and chip surfaces, photoelectrochemical cells, electrocatalysis and novel battery chemistries.