Studies of charge transfer at liquid vertical bar liquid interfaces and bilayer lipid membranes by scanning electrochemical microscopy

The principles of scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) and its applic ation to studies of electron transfer at the interface between two immiscib le electrolyte solutions are reviewed. The results of SECM measurements wit h a number of redox couples at the bare liquid \ liquid interface or an int erface with a lipid monolayer suggest that the electron transfer follows th at predicted by Marcus theory, with evidence for an inverted region. The SE CM can also be used to probe processes at bilayer lipid membranes. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.