This review focuses on some of the recent advances on scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) applied to studies of heterogeneous chemical processes and chemical reactivity in materials involved in energy-related applications. The materials that are considered in the present review are mainly noble metals, metal coatings, and metal nanoparticles for electrochemical energy conversion systems such as fuel cells and batteries. In particular, the deposition of metal nanoparticles using SECM probes as well as studies of the chemical reactivity of noble metal nanoparticles for hydrogen evolution and hydrogen oxidation (HER and HOR, respectively), and oxygen evolution and reduction (OER and ORR, respectively) reactions are surveyed. Finally, this review will briefly describe some recent advances on the use of SECM as a novel tool for the investigation of electrocatalytic processes driven by enzymes for uses in biofuel cells.
