The use of an activated carbon based quasi-reference electrode for in situ electrochemical scanning tunneling microscopy was found to allow investigations of electrode/electrolyte interfaces under realistic electrochemical reaction conditions. The implementation of purely inert porous carbon electrode materials, both as reference and counter electrode, ensures a stable reference electrode potential over a wide range of temperatures and in different electrolytes, which renders this electrode ‘universal’. Furthermore, the high surface area carbon can reduce and even eliminate contaminations that might be present in the electrolyte. Activated carbon electrodes can therefore generally contribute to more reliable electrochemical measurements when investigating electrochemical reactions under complex experimental conditions, where the use of classical secondary reference electrodes is impossible or impractical. This is often the case when electrochemistry is combined with in situ interface analytics.

发现使用基于活性炭的准参比电极进行原位电化学扫描隧道显微镜可以在实际的电化学反应条件下研究电极/电解质界面。采用纯惰性多孔碳电极材料作为参比电极和对电极，可确保在较宽的温度范围内以及在不同的电解质中具有稳定的参比电极电势，从而使该电极“通用”。此外，高表面积碳可以减少甚至消除电解质中可能存在的污染。因此，在研究复杂实验条件下的电化学反应时，活性炭电极通常可以为更可靠的电化学测量做出贡献，在经典二级参考电极的使用是不可能或不切实际的情况下。当电化学与原位界面分析相结合时，通常就是这种情况。