Abstract
The dearth of nanoscale electrochemical characterization capabilities is directly linked to the difficulties in detecting Faradaic currents due to electrochemical process in small volumes. The development and optimization of energy technologies is impossible without the capability to probe structure and functionality of these materials on all length scales from atomic to device level to understand factors controlling energy and power densities, life times, and failure and degradation modes. Electrochemical strain microscopy (ESM) is a scanning probe microscopy (SPM) technique developed to probe electrochemical reactivity and ionic flows in solids down to 10 nm, extending the capability of existing SPMs from probing electronic currents and forces to also probing ionic currents. The characteristic aspect of many electrochemical materials is the intrinsically high thermodynamic instability of materials in contact with ambient atmosphere combined with high ionic mobility, ensuring rapid degradation kinetics.
Original language | English |
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Pages | 30-34 |
Number of pages | 5 |
Volume | 169 |
No | 11 |
Specialist publication | Advanced Materials and Processes |
State | Published - Nov 2011 |