The voltammetric electrodeposition of the heteropolyanion ͑HPA͒ ͓CoMo 6 O 18 (OH) 6 ͔ 3Ϫ on the surface of highly oriented pyrolytic graphite ͑HOPG͒ was studied by in situ atomic force microscopy ͑AFM͒. The electrochemical behavior of the HPA showed voltammetric plots similar to those found on the growth mechanism of organic conducting polymers. The combined electrochemical behavior and the AFM images revealed that electroreduced species of HPA ͑ranging from Ϫ1.5 to 0.6 V vs. Ag wire͒ were deposited on the graphite surface in an irregular aggregation. The depth and morphology of the deposit changed as the number of potential cycles and concentration were modified. Additionally, the electrodeposits were characterized by scanning electron microscopy-energy dispersive spectroscopy techniques. These results show that electrochemical studies of inorganic compounds by electrochemistry-AFM provide a strong evidence of electrodeposition for heteropolyanions such as the HPA molecule.Over the last few years, the importance of heteropolyoxometalates ͑HPOM͒ has increased considerably since they can be used in modified electrodes. 1 These compounds are multielectronic oxidizers, which present a strong blue color ͑''heteropolyblues''͒ when they are reduced and become mixed-valence compounds. 2 For these reasons, HPOM can be used in homo-and heterocatalysts, 3,4 solar energy sources, 5 electrochromic materials, 6 and more recently, medical applications. 7 Electrochemical studies on HPOM reveal they transfer up to 8 electrons in four steps. 8 In a recent report, the application of HPOM in modified electrodes shows that these compounds can form monolayer and multilayer structures on electrode surfaces. 9 On the other hand, it is well known that scanning probe microscopes ͑SPM͒ are important tools in surface science because they are capable to characterize surface structures with molecular resolution at different interfaces. It has been shown that scanning tunneling microscopy ͑STM͒ and atomic force microscopy ͑AFM͒ provide a better understanding on interfacial phenomena since they can investigate interfacial processes in situ at the local scale. Now the application of these techniques to study the structure and reactivity of solutions on electrode surfaces includes a rich variety of materials. 10 In particular, materials such as inorganic adsorbates like polyoxometalates, which have industrial and medical applications, have been investigated with these techniques. 11,12 STM has been used to study successfully the deposition on highly-ordered pyrolytic graphite ͑HOPG͒ of different HPOM by evaporative adsorption and electrochemical deposition. [13][14][15][16][17][18] Resulting STM images showed, in both cases, ordered domains after few voltammetric cycles; unfortunately, the interpretation of these images remains unclear. 13,14 On the other hand, although electrochemical deposition of metals and organic molecules onto several substrates have been reported extensively, 19,20 little work has been done to characterize the electrochem...