Biofilms are known to be well-organized microbial communities embedded in an extracellular polymeric matrix, which supplies bacterial protection against external stressors. Biofilms are widespread and diverse, and despite the considerable large number of publications and efforts reported regarding composition, structure and cell-to-cell communication within biofilms in the last decades, the mechanisms of biofilm formation, the interaction and communication between bacteria are still not fully understood. This knowledge is required to understand why biofilms form and how we can combat them or how we can take advantage of these sessile communities, e.g. in biofuel cells. Therefore, in situ and real-time monitoring of nutrients, metabolites and quorum sensing molecules is of high importance, which may help to fill that knowledge gap. This review focuses on the potential of scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) as a versatile method for in situ studies providing temporal and lateral resolution in order to elucidate cell-to-cell communication, microbial metabolism and antimicrobial impact, e.g. of antimicrobial coatings through the study of electrochemical active molecules. Given the complexity and diversity of biofilms, challenges and limitations will be also discussed.

众所周知，生物膜是嵌入细胞外聚合物基质中的组织良好的微生物群落，可提供细菌保护以抵御外部压力。生物膜广泛多样，尽管在过去的几十年里，关于生物膜内的组成、结构和细胞间通讯的大量出版物和努力报道了，但生物膜形成的机制、细菌之间的相互作用和通讯仍然没有完全理解。了解生物膜形成的原因以及我们如何对抗它们或我们如何利用这些固着群落（例如在生物燃料电池中）需要这些知识。因此，营养物质、代谢物和群体感应分子的原位和实时监测非常重要，这可能有助于填补这一知识空白。本综述重点关注扫描电化学显微镜 (SECM) 作为原位研究的通用方法的潜力，提供时间和横向分辨率，以阐明细胞间通讯、微生物代谢和抗菌影响，例如通过研究抗菌涂层电化学活性分子。鉴于生物膜的复杂性和多样性，还将讨论挑战和局限性。