Gunther Wittstock

I was trained as an analytical chemist in the area of biosensors and later made my independent scientific carrier in electrochemistry focusing on localized interfacial charge transfer reaction. These reactions are important in almost any branch of electrochemistry. We develop new analytical tools and methods to acquire information from interfaces between two condensed phases such as solid-liquid interfaces that are important in electrochemistry. We have applied the methodologies to a large variety of problems from areas such as biomimetic interfaces, biosensor surfaces, functional organic thin films on the basis of self-assembled monolayers, patterned organic thin films, organic-inorganic functional materials, nanoparticle assemblies at interfaces, localized electrocatalytic reactions, in particular oxygen reduction reaction in different media. Recently, my particular emphasis has been on molecular reactions and molecular thin films in advanced battery systems. One of our outstanding expertises is in scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM), where I significantly contributed to the instrumental, software and methodology. The use of this method is complemented by surface spectroscopies (IR and XPS), spectroelectrochemistry and other scanning probe techniques such as atomic force microscopy.