1. Couplings

Atomic force microscopy (AFM) and scanning tunnelling microscopy (STM) belong to the family of near-field microscopies and are not, by nature, electrochemical techniques, unlike SECM, as shown by their operating principle and related instrumental aspects [1] . In the remainder of this text dealing with AFM/electrochemistry and STM/electrochemistry couplings, a distinction will be made between couplings where only the sample is under electrochemical control while the AFM or STM probe plays its usual role (EC-AFM, EC-STM) and those where the probe itself is under electrochemical control, either alone or together with the sample: CS-AFM (AFM in current-sensing mode, under certain conditions), ECP-AFM (also known as AFM-SECM in the literature), ECP-STM (also known as STM-SECM in the literature). Note that ECP-AFM and ECP-STM...