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(1 1 1) as examples. Preliminary results of tunneling spectroscopy are also presented.