Eur. Phys. J. Special Topics 223, 3165–3178 (2014)
https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2014-02325-5

Review

Brownian motion in electrochemical nanodevices

¹ Institute of Bioelectronics (PGI-8/ICS-8) and JARA; Fundamentals of Future Information Technology, Forschungszentrum Jülich, 52425 Jülich, Germany
² Institute for Integrative Nanosciences, IFW Dresden, Helmholtzstr. 20, 01069 Dresden, Germany
³ Institute of Physics, RWTH Aachen University, 52074 Aachen, Germany
⁴ MESA+ Institute for Nanotechnology, University of Twente, PO Box 217, 7500 AE Enschede, The Netherlands

^a e-mail: s.g.lemay@utwente.nl

Received: 17 October 2014
Revised: 5 November 2014
Published online: 15 December 2014

Abstract

Diffusion dominates mass transport in most electrochemical systems. In classical experimental systems on the micrometer scale or larger, this is adequately described at the mean-field level. However, nanoscale detection devices are being developed in which a handful or even single molecules can be detected. Brownian dynamics become manifest in these systems via the associated fluctuations in electrochemical signals. Here we describe the state of the art of these electrochemical nanodevices, paying particular attention to the role of Brownian dynamics and emphasizing areas in which theoretical understanding remains limited.