Laboratory of Electrochemistry

The research interests of the Laboratory of Electrochemistry have been in the application of electrochemical methods to the study of chemical problems and include investigations in electro-organic chemistry, photoelectrochemistry, electrogenerated chemiluminescence, and electroanalytical chemistry. The laboratory continues to make advances in the application of scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) to studies of charge transfer processes at the liquid/liquid interface and ion transport in thin polymer films. The SECM has also been used to trap a single molecule and examine its electrochemical behavior. Other projects include the application of electrogenerated chemiluminescence (ECL) to DNA analysis, in which new methods for ECL detection of DNA are currently being investigated, the investigation of the optoelectronic properties of organic molecular crystals, and the design of photocatalysts for water treatment. An outline of all current research projects follows:

Ultra high resolution electrochemistry
a) Scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and force microscopy (AFM) of electrode surfaces; AFM measurement of surface charge on electrode
and polymer surfaces.
b) Scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) - new applications, new probes, single molecule experiments, studies of liquid/liquid interface, lipid bilayer membranes.
c) Combined SECM/NSOM (near field scanning optical microscopy) and ECL-based NSOM instruments.
d) Charge transport (in gas phase) through self-assembled monolayers of compounds of interest in molecular electronics.

Properties and charge injection in organic thin films; high resolution charge storage devices (liquid crystal Zn porphyrin…) Thin film electroluminescent devices based on Ru(bpy)32+ salts.

Electrochemical studies of reaction mechanisms of interesting organic and inorganic species.
a) Electrochromic and electroluminescent polymer films.
b) Electrochemistry in ionic liquids (room temperature molten salts)

Photoelectrochemistry at semiconductors
a) Photoelectrochemical (solar) cells based on semiconductor electrodes
b) Photocatalysis at semiconductor particles

Electrochemical studies of biological systems; bioconjugation
a) Interactions and intercalation of metal chelates and other species with DNA
b) Fabrication of DNA modified electrodes. Probing by AFM charge measurements.
6. Electrogenerated chemiluminescence (ECL) and related areas
a) Analytical applications through new ECL labels and reactions
b) Electrochemistry and ECL of semiconductor nanoparticles (CdS, Si)
c) ECL studies of bioconjugation and sensors- DNA
d) Mechanisms of ECL reactions; new coreactants