  Electrochemical insertion-deintercalation reactions are typically associated
with significant change of molar volume of the host compound. This strong
coupling between ionic currents and strains underpins image formation
mechanisms in electrochemical strain microscopy (ESM), and allows exploring the
tip-induced electrochemical processes locally. Here we analyze the signal
formation mechanism in ESM, and develop the analytical description of operation
in frequency and time domains. The ESM spectroscopic modes are compared to
classical electrochemical methods including potentiostatic and galvanostatic
intermittent titration (PITT and GITT), and electrochemical impedance
spectroscopy (EIS). This analysis illustrates the feasibility of spatially
resolved studies of Li-ion dynamics on the sub-10 nanometer level using
electromechanical detection.
