Microelectrodes history

Ion-selective electrodes and amperometric ceUs have had a long history of success in a wide variety of appHcations (8,9). A microelectronics-inspired revolution is also occurring in these devices, brought about by the advent of photoHthographicaHy defined arrays of microelectrodes on planar substrates... 

One of the exciting developments associated with ion-selective electrodes has been the fabrication of microelectrodes capable of monitoring an intracellular ion concentration. The history of these developments from the mid-1950s has been reviewed.88 a symposium held in 1996 was devoted to the history of ion-selective electrodes. One paper discussed their development and commercialization,89 another described how the 1970s was the decade in which they really became established,90 a third outlined their industrial applications,91 and a fourth traced the evolution of blood chemistry analyses using them.92 The first attempts to construct biochemical sensors by immobilizing enzymes on electrodes date from the 1960s.93... 

An excellent review of the early history of noise studies of different ionic systems, such as single pores in thin dielectric films, microelectrodes, and synthetic membranes, is reference 3. The review by Weissman (48) describes several state-of-the-art fluctuation spectroscopy methods that include (1) determination of chemical kinetics from conductivity fluctuations in salt solutions, (2) observation of conductivity noise that arises from enthalpy fluctuations in the electrolyte with high temperature coefficient of resistivity, and (3) detection of large conductivity fluctuations in a binary mixture near its critical point. 

Microelectrodes have attracted much attention recently in electrochemistry due to their superior properties, which enable them to outperform conventional macroelectrodes and extend the experimental range to several new fields, such as fast-scan measurements and analysis in poorly conducting media [1-4]. The history of microelectrodes actually started more than 60 years ago, when 1942, Davies and Brink [5] reported the use of platinum microdisk electrodes for the measurement of oxygen in muscle tissues. In their work, microelectrodes were used to minimize the damage to the muscle, and to limit the current flowing through the electrode. Since then, several reviews [6-8] and books [9,10] about microelectrodes have been published. 

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