Electrochemical nanostructuring with an STM: A status report

Over the last decade, electrochemists have made increasingly the use of an STM as a tool for nanostructuring electrode surfaces. The various approaches include: (i) a mechanical impact of the tip on the surface, e.g., creating reaction centres by a tip crash or by locally removing tarnishing overlayers, (ii) the spatially confined metal deposition or dissolution via the tip and (iii) down-scaling of the SECM to nanometer dimensions. Examples for each of the different strategies are given. Nanostructuring electrode surfaces by metal clusters, which are generated by a jump-to-contact between tip and substrate is described in more detail with Cu and Pd on Au(111) as examples. Preliminary results of tunneling spectroscopy are also presented. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.