ac-SDS/SDS470 Alternative Current Scanning Droplet System

Ability to spatially resolve the electrochemical behaviour of phases contained in metallic samples

The Scanning Droplet System uses a Scanning Droplet Cell (SDC) that allows a spatially resolved, in situ investigation by all standard electrochemical techniques. SDS is a technique which confines a liquid in contact with a sample surface in order to measure electrochemical and corrosion reactions over a limited region where the droplet is actually in contact with the sample. This offers the unique ability to spatially resolve electrochemical activity and to confine it exclusively to a quantifiable area of the sample.

The scanning droplet technique allows the positioning of a small drop of electrolyte from a 100 µm capillary onto the sample surface. The wetted surface area under investigation acts as the working electrode and the capillary contains the counter and reference electrodes which are electrically connected to the surface through the drop.

Materials

• High throughput screening for material discovery and optimization
• High throughput characterisation of combinatorial material libraries

Fundamentals

• Investigation of structured oxide films on Aluminium
• Localised investigation of coarse grain crystalline materials
• In-situ study of Aluminium re-passivation

Corrosion

• Corrosion-potential profiles of Aluminium-alloy brazing sheets
• Investigations of single grain polycrystalline materials and their grain boundaries