Electrochemistry with template nanomaterials nanoelectrode ensembles

5 Electrochemistry with template nanomaterials nanoelectrode ensembles 

Nanoelectrode ensembles (NEEs) (see also Chapter 10 of this handbook) are nanotech-based electroanalytical tools which find application in a variety of fields ranging from electroanalysis to sensors (86) and electronics (7). They are fabricated by growing metal nanowires in the pores of a template, typically a PC nanoporous manbrane. The density of the pores in the template determines the number of Au-disk nanoelectrode elanents per cm of NEE surface and, correspondingly, the average distance between the nanoelectrode elements. Such electrode systems proved to be valuable tools for trace determinations and kinetics studies by simply using cyclic voltammetry (CV) (5, 69, 86, 97). 

Track-etched polymer membranes are preferred for NEE fabrication over alumina membranes because track-etched membranes are not brittle and they have smaller pore densities. From an electroanalytical viewpoint, the latter is an important feature since it reduces the interactions between individual nanoelectrode elements (see below). 

Relevant geometric parameters that define the behavior of NEEs include  

The faradaic peak current at an NEE operating in the Total Overlap Regime for a reversible redox system obeys the Randles-Sevcik equation (5)  

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