In this project funded by the Chemical Measurement & Imaging Program of the Chemistry Division of the NSF, Professor Shanlin Pan of The University of Alabama is developing electrochemistry and spectroscopy techniques to help address technical and scientific challenges of conventional electrochemistry methods for studying redox events at the nanometer scale. Combined methods of optical spectroscopy, nanoelectrochemistry, and imaging techniques will be used to address these challenges. The broader impacts are addressed in through outreach efforts focus on integrating the research project with education and training of high school teachers as well as education module development. The students working on this project will be part of an interdisciplinary team, and will be cross-trained in the areas of spectroelectrochemistry and material science. These skills will serve them well in their future careers. The proposed educational activities will help enhance the recruitment and retention of minority students and faculties in the Alabama area.
The proposal is designed to address both scientific and technical challenges for understanding detailed redox reaction mechanism and plasmon interaction with electrogenerated chemiluminescence (ECL) at single metallic nanoparticles (NPs) using improved spectroelectrochemistry techniques. Task-1 of the proposal involves the study of local electrochemical reaction and its temporal and spatial heterogeneities using ECL at single metallic NPs. Task-2 is designed to resolve the shape dependence of single NPs local electrochemical events with a scanning nanoelectrode probe method that has super-spatial resolution, beyond the optical diffraction limit, and reliable spectral resolution for probing local interfacial charge transfer events.
