Electrical double layers play a key role in a variety of electrochemical systems. The mean free path of secondary electrons in aqueous solutions is on the order of a nanometer, making them suitable for probing of ultrathin electrical double layers at solid-liquid electrolyte interfaces. Employing graphene as an electron-transparent electrode in a two-electrode electrochemical system, we show that the secondary electron yield of the graphene-liquid interface depends on the ionic strength and concentration of electrolyte and applied bias at the remote counter electrode. These observations have been related to polarization-induced changes in the potential distribution within the electrical double layer and demonstrate the feasibility of using scanning electron microscopy to examine and map electrified liquid-solid interfaces
@article{arxiv.2006.04283,
title = {Probing Electrified Liquid-Solid Interfaces with Scanning Electron Microscopy},
author = {Hongxuan Guo and Alexander Yulaev and Evgheni Strelcov and Alexander Tselev and Christopher Arble and Andras E. Vladar and John S. Villarrubia and Andrei Kolmakov},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:2006.04283},
year = {2020}
}