Localized electrografting of vinylic monomers on a conducting substrate by means of an integrated electrochemical AFM probe.

Combinations of scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) with other scanning probe microscopy techniques, such as atomic force microscopy (AFM), show great promise for directing localized modification, which is of great interest for chemical, biochemical and technical applications. Herein, an atomic force scanning electrochemical microscope is used as a new electrochemical lithographic tool (L-AFM-SECM) to locally electrograft, with submicrometer resolution, a non-conducting organic coating on a conducting substrate.