Demonstration of an in-situ electrochemical RBS system to study electrode-electrolyte interfaces

An in-situ electrochemical Rutherford backscattering (ECRBS) system has been demonstrated that enables the investigation of electrode and solution composition, along with kinetics of nuclide adsorption and desorption, at an electrode-electrolyte interface (EEI) under potential control. In contrast to other in-situ electrochemical diffraction or spectroscopy techniques, ECRBS can provide quantitative elemental analysis over an area of ∼0.25 mm ². The probe depth of the RBS ion beam allows observation of the EEI through a thin-film electrode window assembly (∼200 nm). The depth resolution of RBS (1-10 nm) allows for measurement of nuclide concentration of the surface and near-surface layers. In this first report, we seek to demonstrate elemental characterization using ECRBS by measuring iodine adsorption on a polycrystalline gold electrode as well as gold dissolution. We believe ECRBS will bring new insight to a wide range of electrochemical processes, in particular to investigations of corrosion, electrodeposition, and electrocatalysis.