Preparation carbon electrode surfaces

In most applications, the electrochemical compounds are usually oxidized, yielding one or more electrons per molecule reacted. The oxidized form is usually unstable and reacts further to form a stable compound that flows past the carbon electrode surface. Unfortunately, this is not always the case, with the stable oxidized form occasionally building up at the surfaces of the carbon electrode. This creates sensitivity problems and decreases the efficiency of the detector. However, the problem is usually overcome by regularly cleaning the carbon electrode surfaces, removing any oxidizable products. Eluents for EC detection must be electrochemically conductive, which is achieved by the addition of inert electrolytes (to maintain a baseline current) such as phosphate or acetate. All solvents and buffers used in preparation of an eluent must be relatively pure and selected so as to not undergo electrochemical changes at the applied electrode potentials. 

Figure 6. SEM image of glassy carbon electrode surface modified with gold nanoparticles prepared with the seed-mediated growth approach. Reproduced from [32], copyright 2007, with permission from the Japan Society for Analytical Chemistry.

In this work, simple (single-use) biosensors with a layer double stranded (ds) calf thymus DNA attached to the surface of screen-printed carbon electrode assembly have been prepared. The sensor efficiency was significantly improved using nanostructured films like carbon nanotubes, hydroxyapatite and montmorillonite in the polyvinylalcohol matrix. 

The purpose of this paper Is 1) to describe the electrochemistry of ferrl-/ferro-cyanlde and the oxidation of ascorbic at an activated glassy carbon electrode which Is prepared by polishing the surface with alumina and followed only by thorough sonlcatlon 2) to describe experimental criteria used to bench-mark the presence of an activated electrode surface and 3) to present a preliminary description of the mechanism of the activation. The latter results from a synergistic Interpretation of the chemical, electrochemical and surface spectroscopic probes of the activated surface. Although the porous layer may be Important, Its role will be considered elsewhere. 

A qualitatively new approach to the surface pretreatment of solid electrodes is their chemical modification, which means a controlled attachment of suitable redox-active molecules to the electrode surface. The anchored surface molecules act as charge mediators between the elctrode and a substance in the electrolyte. A great effort in this respect was triggered in 1975 when Miller et al. attached the optically active methylester of phenylalanine by covalent bonding to a carbon electrode via the surface oxygen functionalities (cf. Fig. 5.27). Thus prepared, so-called chiral electrode showed stereospecific reduction of 4-acetylpyridine and ethylph-enylglyoxylate (but the product actually contained only a slight excess of one enantiomer). 

CNTs offer an exciting possibility for developing ultrasensitive electrochemical biosensors because of their unique electrical properties and biocompatible nanostructures. Luong et al. have fabricated a glucose biosensor based on the immobilization of GOx on CNTs solubilized in 3-aminopropyltriethoxysilane (APTES). The as-prepared CNT-based biosensor using a carbon fiber has achieved a picoamperometric response current with the response time of less than 5 s and a detection limit of 5-10 pM [109], When Nation is used to solubilize CNTs and combine with platinum nanoparticles, it displays strong interactions with Pt nanoparticles to form a network that connects Pt nanoparticles to the electrode surface. The Pt-CNT nanohybrid-based glucose biosensor... 

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