| After more than 20 years of basic nanoscience research, advances in nanotechnology have opened up unprecedented possibilities and opportunities in electrochemistry. Especially, fabrication, characterization, modification and the understanding of various electrochemical interfaces or electrochemical processes at the nanoscale have led to applications of electrochemical methods to novel technologies. Nanoscale characterization and theoretical analysis of electrochemical interfaces and reactions can lead to the understanding of these complicated chemical systems at the molecular level. This is not only scientifically interesting, but also crucial for the controlled applications of electrochemistry in nanotechnology.;A theme of my PhD work is to seek the better understanding of important nanosystems such as single walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) and nanopores in biological as well as artificial nanoporous membrane. The understanding of the electrochemistry of carbon nanotubes as an attractive electrode material for electroanalysis and electrocatalysis is fundamentally and practically important. Also, the greater understanding of nucleocytoplasmic transport through the nuclear pores in nuclear envelope is highly significant because of its critical roles as a regulator of gene expression, a gateway for gene delivery, and a model of biomimetic transport systems. In addition, the quantitative understanding of membrane permeability at a single nanopore level is a prerequisite for the development and the application of nanoporous membrane for nanofiltration, biomedical devices, nano fluidics, and biomimetic membrane transport. To achieve these goals, I developed scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) as a powerful nanoscale tool and applied this technology to the kinetic study and high-resolution imaging of heterogeneous reactions at various interfaces. Therefore, this thesis is based on two sections. In the first section, I summarize the application of nanoscale SECM to the study of a few different nanostructures and the substantial findings. The second section is concerned about the development of nanoscale SECM. Based on these achievements, the capacity of nanoscale SECM will be greatly increased to characterize and understand various nanomaterials and interfaces at the nanoscale. |
