CHEM02200704003 Nilamadhab Pandhy - Homi Bhabha National ...

Chapter 3
for understanding the passive film property, surface dissolution, surface morphological changes
prior to corrosion initiation, efficiency of inhibitors, and many other branches of corrosion science.
The basic working principle for EC-AFM is similar to that of AFM as discussed in section
2.3.2, however it is designed to operate under electrochemical condition [112]. The topographical
measurements in electrochemical environment are carried out by measuring the force of
interaction between tip and sample in a three electrode electrochemical cell comprising of
specimen as working electrode, counter electrode, and reference electrode. The schematic of an
electrochemical AFM showing electrochemical cell, working electrode, counter electrode,
reference electrode, potentiostat and signal detection system such as laser diode, probe and
photodetector are shown in Fig. 3.11 [113].
Fig. 3.11: Schematic of electrochemical atomic force microscope [113].