The performance of a material’s surface on the macroscopic scale is governed by its properties and characteristics on the microscopic and even the nanometer scale. To study and understand the phenomena occurring at the materials’ surfaces, state of the art research infrastructure with nanometer resolution is necessary.

At SURF we can both chemically and morphologically characterise materials from the macroscopic scale down to the nanometer scale. Besides that we can also characterise the electrochemical behaviour of metal surfaces, both globally and locally. Moreover, SURF is in the unique position of having both advanced technological equipment and powerful electrochemical modelling tools, as listed below.

in-situ & ex-situ surface analysis techniques:

• (field emission) scanning electron microscopy & energy dispersive X-ray analysis - (FE)SEM-EDX
• (field emission) Auger electron spectroscopy - (FE)AES
• X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy - XPS
• in-situ spectroscopic ellipsometry (SE), including visual (VISSE) and infrared (IRSE)
• confocal Raman spectroscopy
• in-situ atomic force microscopy (AFM)
• synchrotron

Complementary electrochemical methods:

• (odd random phase) Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy - (ORP)-EIS
• electrochemical stationary and non-stationary methods (linear & cyclic voltammetry, polarisation curves…)
• electrochemical reactors operating under different flow regimes (e.g., rotating disc reactor, wall jet reactor, parallel flow reactor) and environments (Glove box & Temperature and atmosphere controlled chamber)

Local electrochemical tools:

• scanning vibrating electrode technique (SVET) / scanning ion-selective electrode technique (SIET)
• scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM)
• scanning Kelvin probe (SKP)

Electrochemical modelling tools:

• Numerical software general approach