Visualizing and Calculating Tip-Substrate Distance in Nanoscale Scanning Electrochemical Microscopy Using 3-Dimensional Super-Resolution Optical Imaging

We report a strategy for the optical determination of tip-substrate distance in nanoscale scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) using three-dimensional super-resolution fluorescence imaging. A phase mask is placed in the emission path of our dual SECM/optical microscope, generating a double helix point spread function at the image plane, which allows us to measure the height of emitting objects relative to the focus of the microscope. By exciting both a fluorogenic reaction at the nanoscale electrode tip as well as fluorescent nanoparticles at the substrate, we are able to calculate the tip-substrate distance as the tip approaches the surface with precision better than 25 nm. Attachment of a fluorescent particle to the insulating sheath of the SECM tip extends this technique to nonfluorogenic electrochemical reactions. Correlated electrochemical and optical determination of tip-substrate distance yielded excellent agreement between the two techniques. Not only does super-resolution imaging offer a secondary feedback mechanism for measuring the tip-sample gap during SECM experiments, it also enables facile tip alignment and a strategy for accounting for electrode tilt relative to the substrate.