Surfaces decorated with nanostructured materials are widely employed in applications ranging from sensing to catalysis. In many of these applications, controlling the distribution of structures on a surface would be ideal to improve reproducibility in sensing applications or optimize the mass transfer of species to valuable active materials in catalysis. Using conventional fabrication methods, such as electrodeposition, it is extremely difficult to produce well-defined arrays of nanostructured materials due to the random, non-uniform chemical properties of heterogeneous interfaces and the stochastic nature of nucleation and growth processes. Here, we show scanning electrochemical cell microscopy (SECCM) can be used to locally modify surfaces through a variety of strategies, such as electrodeposition and particle delivery, all of which utilize the ability of pipets to chemically address surfaces at high spatial resolutions (&lt;100 nm). Using SECCM, individual nanostructures of controlled size can be synthesized at precisely defined locations on the sample in an instantly reconfigurable manner. The efficacy of this SECCM-based approach is demonstrated through the fabrication of Ag and Au nanoparticle arrays for sensing applications, revealing the potential for SECCM to serve as a powerful, flexible platform for nanofabrication.

Pipets as instantly configurable tools for local materials synthesis

ACS Spring 2022

The official archive and repository for all ACS Meetings & Expositions abstracts and select posters or presentations.