Electrospinning electrochemical sensors

To focus on the topic, in the next sections, the general term nanoelectrochemistry will be whittled down to the study of conductive surfaces coated with material having one or more external dimensions in the nanoscale and the apphcations will be limited to electrochemical sensors and biosensors modified with nonwoven nanofibrous membranes prepared by electrospinning. 

Electrospinning is a nanofiber production technique from a wide range of polymeric materials. In this section, an introduction to electrospinning process and starting materials, along with the applications of electrochemical sensors based on nanofibrous mats fabricated by the electrospinning process, will be discussed. 

Applications of Electrochemical Sensors Based on Electrospinning 13.4.1 Nanofibrous Membranes as Coating Material... 

Nanocable chemosensors have been formed in which an inner core fiber filament is further modified by polymerization of the conducting polymer on its surface. This was first described for sensing by Zhang et al. in which a carbon fiber was used as the template for the electrochemical polymerization of a thin film of PANI [27]. The resulting nanoelectrode sensor was used to detect changes in pH resulting from the level of protonation in the polymer backbone. PPy nanofibers have been formed by the electrospinning of nylon fibers. 

The vapor phase chemical deposition of PPy on the surface of the electrospun PVA nanofibers was successfully performed. Morphology of the nanofibers and successful deposition of the PPy onto the nanofibers is governed by the oxidant type and its concentration in the electrospinning solution. At the best studied condition, a layer of PPy with the thickness of 1,000 nm is formed onto the PVA nanofibers surface using ammonium persulfate as oxidant. In contrast, surface coating was not observed in the case of FeClj as oxidant. The electrical conductivity of the coated nanofiber mats depends on the coating conditions and reaches to 10 S/cm. Large surface area of the sensor material with the electrochemical activity is one of the most important properties for sensor application. Since, it is obvious that the surface area of PPy coated non-... 

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