ABSTRACT
From its inception, attempts have been made to apply scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) to investigations of biological or biochemically relevant problems [1]. SECM has particular advantages in these studies because measurements can be carried out in buffered solutions with a scanning electrode that does not touch the specimen and that interferes with the sample much less than tips of alternative scanning probe techniques, for example, scanning tunneling microscopy (STM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM). SECM with electrochemical detection of metabolites can be used to map biochemical activity and therefore is complementary to techniques that image only the topography of biological specimens or biomolecules.
