Related Experiment Video
Updated: Jan 20, 2026
Microfluidic Chips for In Situ Crystal X-ray Diffraction and In Situ Dynamic Light Scattering for Serial Crystallography
Published on: April 24, 2018
Microfluidic electrochemical cell for in situ structural characterization of amorphous thin-film catalysts using
Gihan Kwon1, Yeong Ho Cho2, Ki Bum Kim2
1Argonne Northwestern Solar Energy Research (ANSER) Center, Northwestern University, 2145 Sheridan Road, Tech Room L110, Evanston, IL 60208-3113, USA.
Abstract:
Porous, high-surface-area electrode architectures are described that allow structural characterization of interfacial amorphous thin films with high spatial resolution under device-relevant functional electrochemical conditions using high-energy X-ray (>50 keV) scattering and pair distribution function (PDF) analysis. Porous electrodes were fabricated from glass-capillary array membranes coated with conformal transparent conductive oxide layers, consisting of either a 40 nm-50 nm crystalline indium tin oxide or a 100 nm-150 nm-thick amorphous indium zinc oxide deposited by atomic layer deposition. These porous electrodes solve the problem of insufficient interaction volumes for catalyst thin films in two-dimensional working electrode designs and provide sufficiently low scattering backgrounds to enable high-resolution signal collection from interfacial thin-film catalysts. For example, PDF measurements were readily obtained with 0.2 Å spatial resolution for amorphous cobalt oxide films with thicknesses down to 60 nm when deposited on a porous electrode with 40 µm-diameter pores. This level of resolution resolves the cobaltate domain size and structure, the presence of defect sites assigned to the domain edges, and the changes in fine structure upon redox state change that are relevant to quantitative structure-function modeling. The results suggest the opportunity to leverage the porous, electrode architectures for PDF analysis of nanometre-scale surface-supported molecular catalysts. In addition, a compact 3D-printed electrochemical cell in a three-electrode configuration is described which is designed to allow for simultaneous X-ray transmission and electrolyte flow through the porous working electrode.
More Related Videos
12:12On the Preparation and Testing of Fuel Cell Catalysts Using the Thin Film Rotating Disk Electrode Method
Published on: March 16, 2018
06:49In situ Grazing Incidence Small Angle X-ray Scattering on Roll-To-Roll Coating of Organic Solar Cells with Laboratory X-ray Instrumentation
Published on: March 2, 2021
Related Concept Videos
11:48Microfluidic Chips for In Situ Crystal X-ray Diffraction and In Situ Dynamic Light Scattering for Serial Crystallography
12:12On the Preparation and Testing of Fuel Cell Catalysts Using the Thin Film Rotating Disk Electrode Method
06:49In situ Grazing Incidence Small Angle X-ray Scattering on Roll-To-Roll Coating of Organic Solar Cells with Laboratory X-ray Instrumentation
10:57Synthesis and Performance Characterizations of Transition Metal Single Atom Catalyst for Electrochemical CO2 Reduction
10:38Electrochemical Measurements of Supported Catalysts Using a Potentiostat/Galvanostat
A potentiostat/galvanostat (often referred to as simply a potentiostat) is an instrument that measures current at an applied potential (potentiostatic operation) or measures potential at an applied current (galvanostatic operation) (Figure 1). It is the most commonly used instrument in the electrochemical characterization of anode and cathode materials for fuel cells, electrolyzers, batteries, and supercapacitors.
08:18Protocol of Electrochemical Test and Characterization of Aprotic Li-O2 Battery