Deconvolution of potentiometric SECM images recorded with high scan rate

In order to image rapidly changing systems with the Scanning Electrochemical Microscope (SECM), high scan rate must be used, otherwise by the time the scan is completed, major changes in the studied system would have occured. But if the scan rate is too high, there is not enough time for the detector to reach equilibrium before the signal is recorded at a given data acquisition point, and the image will be distorted. This is a problem especially in potentiometric SECM, where the long response time of the potentiometric cell using ultramicro electrode probes imposes a limit on the maximum scan rate.In this paper we demonstrate for the first time that high scan rates combined with signal processing can be used in potentiometric SECM to keep scan time to a minimum, and still obtain high quality results by deconvoluting the raw, distorted image. A model system was studied with high scan rate, then the image was deconvoluted using the inverse of the potentiometric response function to calculate the equilibrium value for each data acquisition point from the respective observed values.