293 research outputs found
NANOGAP-ENABLED STUDY OF ELECTRODE REACTIONS BY SCANNING ELECTROCHEMICAL MICROSCOPY
NANOGAP-ENABLED STUDY OF ELECTRODE REACTIONS BY SCANNING ELECTROCHEMICAL MICROSCOPY
Nikoloz Nioradze, PhD
University of Pittsburgh, 2014
The nanogap quasi-steady-state voltammetry, developed in my work, presents the way to monitor and study rapid electron transfer reactions on macroscopic substrates of scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM). It combines the cyclic voltammetry and SECM and monitors substrate reaction as a tip current. The resulting plot of iT versus ES features the retraceable sigmoidal shape of a quasi-steady state voltammogram although a transient peak-shape voltammogram is obtained simultaneously at the macroscopic substrate. This simplifies measurement and analysis of a quasi-steady-state voltammogram and gives information about thermodynamic as well as kinetic parameters of the reaction taking place at the interface. No charging current at the amperometric tip, high and adjustable mass transport under the tip and high spatial resolution are all advantages of quasi-steady-state voltammetry. I also introduced generalized theory for nanoscale iT-ES voltammetry of substrate reactions with arbitrary reversibility and mechanism under comprehensive experimental conditions including any substrate potential and both SECM modes (feedback and substrate generation tip collection, SG/TC). I nanofabricated submicrometer size highly reliable Pt SECM tips and found the way of protection of these tiny electrodes from the damage caused either by electrostatic discharge or electrochemical etching. Subsequent application of quasi-steady-state voltammetry and reliable nanofabricated SECM probes enabled sensitive detection of adsorption of organic impurities from air and ultrapure water to the HOPG surface as evidenced by redox reaction of ferrocenylmethyl)trimethyl ammonium (FcTMA+). Study revealed that hydrophobic contaminant layer slows down the access of hydrophilic aqueous redox species to the underlying HOPG surface, thereby yielding a lower standard rate constant, k0. Moreover, this barrier effects stronger to a more charged form (FcTMA2+) of a redox couple so that the electron-transfer reaction of the more hydrophilic form is slower to yield a lower k0 value
DEVELOPMENT OF NANOFABRICATED PROBES FOR SCANNING ELECTROCHEMICAL MICROSCOPY
ABSTRACTNikoloz Nioradze, MSUniversity of Pittsburgh 2009The work describes development of novel Pt disk electrodes with nanometer diameters using focused ion beam (FIB) milling. The nanofabricated electrodes are applied as probes of scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) for studying of electrochemical processes on redox reactive substrates. Nanotips are fabricated by pulling a platinum wire sealed in a glass capillary using a laser pipette puller. An inlaid platinum disk eventually is exposed by milling the tip of a pulled capillary by FIB. Electrodes are as small as 300-500 nm in diameter with a ratio of insulating glass sheath and Pt wire (RG) as small as 3. Moreover, FIB milling gives a flat tip surface. The small RG and smooth surface are helpful for approaching a probe close to a substrate in SECM feedback experiments. Nanometer-sized electrodes can be readily positioned within 100 nm from a polished platinum surface. After placing the tip close to the Pt disk, a potential of the Pt substrate is swept to drive a redox reaction, which is monitored as a current response at the nanometer-sized electrode. Presented method of combination of SECM and substrate cyclic voltammetry (CV) will allow for accurate extraction of electrochemical kinetic parameters of a redox reaction. Overall, it can be concluded that tips fabricated by presented method can be successfully exploited for SECM experiments. Described SECM-substrate CV approach will be useful for monitoring of electrochemical behavior of different conductive substrates
Resonance-like coherent production of a pion pair in the reaction in the GeV region
The reaction was studied at 0.8-2.0 GeV proton
beam energies with the ANKE magnetic spectrometer at the COSY synchrotron
storage ring. The proton-deuteron pairs emerging with high momenta, 0.6-1.8
GeV/, were detected at small angles with respect to the proton beam.
Distribution over the reaction missing mass reveals a local enhancement
near the threshold of the pion pair production specific for the so-called ABC
effect. The enhancement has a structure of a narrow bump placed above a smooth
continuum. The invariant mass of the system in this enhancement
region exhibits a resonance-like peak at GeV/
with the width GeV/. A possible interpretation of
these features is discussed.Comment: 14 pages, 16 figures, submitted to Eur. Phys. J. A. v2: Added
references [42,43] in section IV.A. v3: revised version according to referee
remarks v4: revised version according to referee remark
The Near-Threshold Production of Phi Mesons in pp Collisions
The pp->pp phi reaction has been studied at the Cooler Synchrotron
COSY-Juelich, using the internal beam and ANKE facility. Total cross sections
have been determined at three excess energies epsilon near the production
threshold. The differential cross section closest to threshold at epsilon=18.5
MeV exhibits a clear S-wave dominance as well as a noticeable effect due to the
proton-proton final state interaction. Taken together with data for pp
omega-production, a significant enhancement of the phi/omega ratio of a factor
8 is found compared to predictions based on the Okubo-Zweig-Iizuka rule.Comment: 4 Pages, 3 Figures, 1 Table, submitted to Phys. Rev. Let
Measurement of the analyzing powers in pd elastic and pn quasi-elastic scattering at small angles
The analyzing powers in proton-deuteron elastic and proton-neutron
quasi-elastic scattering have been measured at small angles using a polarized
proton beam at the COSY storage ring incident on an unpolarized deuterium
target. The data were taken at 796MeV and five higher energies from 1600MeV to
2400MeV. The analyzing power in pd elastic scattering was studied by detecting
the low energy recoil deuteron in telescopes placed symmetrically in the COSY
plane to the left and right of the beam whereas for pn quasi-elastic scattering
a low energy proton was registered in one of the telescopes in coincidence with
a fast scattered proton measured in the ANKE magnetic spectrometer. Though the
experiment explores new domains, the results are consistent with the limited
published information.Comment: 10 pages with 8 figure
First measurements of spin correlations in the np -> d pi^0 reaction
The transverse spin correlations Axx and Ayy in the np-> d pi^0 reaction have
been measured for the first time in quasi-free kinematics at the COSY-ANKE
facility using a polarised deuteron beam incident on a polarised hydrogen cell
target. The results obtained for neutron energies close to 353 MeV and 600 MeV
are in good agreement with the partial wave analysis of data on the
isospin-related pp-> d pi^+ reaction, though the present results cover also the
small-angle region, which was largely absent from these data
Near-threshold production of omega mesons in the pn -> d omega reaction
The first measurement of the p n -> d omega total cross section has been
achieved at mean excess energies of Q = 28 and 57 MeV by using a deuterium
cluster-jet target. The momentum of the fast deuteron was measured in the ANKE
spectrometer at COSY-Juelich and that of the slow "spectator" proton p(sp) from
the p d -> p(sp) d omega reaction in a silicon telescope placed close to the
target. The cross sections lie above those measured for p p -> p p omega but
seem to be below theoretical predictions.Comment: 7 pages, 8 figures; second approach to describe the background has
been added; results changed insignificantly, EPJ in pres
Coherent pion production in proton-deuteron collisions
Values of the proton analysing power in the
reactions at 350-360~MeV
per nucleon were obtained by using a polarised proton beam incident on a
deuterium cluster-jet target and with a polarised deuteron beam incident on a
target cell filled with polarised hydrogen. These results have a much larger
angular coverage than existing data. First measurements are also presented of
the deuteron vector analysing power and the deuteron-proton spin correlations.
Data were also obtained on the deuteron-proton spin correlation and proton
analysing power at small angles at 600~MeV per nucleon, though the angular
coverage at this energy was much more restricted even when using a deuteron
beam. By combining the extrapolated values of the spin correlations to the
forward or backward directions with published measurements of the deuteron
tensor analysing powers, the relative phases between the two non-vanishing
amplitudes were evaluated.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure
Measurement of the Analyzing Power in \\with a Fast Forward --Diproton
A measurement of the analyzing power of the
reaction was carried out at beam energies of 0.5 and 0.8 GeV by detection of a
fast forward proton pair of small excitation energy MeV. The
kinematically complete experiment made use of the ANKE spectrometer at the
internal beam of COSY and a deuterium cluster--jet target. For the first time
the --wave dominance in the fast diproton is experimentally demonstrated in
this reaction. While at GeV the measured analyzing power
vanishes, it reaches almost unity at GeV for neutrons scattered at
. The results are compared with a model taking into
account one--nucleon exchange, single scattering and (1232) excitation
in the intermediate state. The model describes fairly well the unpolarized
cross section obtained earlier by us and the analyzing power at 0.8 GeV, it
fails to reproduce the angular dependence of at 0.5 GeV.Comment: 4 pages, 4 figures, 1 tabl
Measurement of the analysing power in proton-proton elastic scattering at small angles
The proton analysing power in elastic scattering has been measured
at small angles at COSY-ANKE at 796 MeV and five other beam energies between
1.6 and 2.4 GeV using a polarised proton beam. The asymmetries obtained by
detecting the fast proton in the ANKE forward detector or the slow recoil
proton in a silicon tracking telescope are completely consistent. Although the
analysing power results agree well with the many published data at 796 MeV, and
also with the most recent partial wave solution at this energy, the ANKE data
at the higher energies lie well above the predictions of this solution at small
angles. An updated phase shift analysis that uses the ANKE results together
with the World data leads to a much better description of these new
measurements.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure
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