Spectroscopic techniques, hydrodynamic electrodes

One of the advantages of flow-through electrodes over other types of hydrodynamic electrodes is that they involve no moving parts. They are therefore ideal for use in conjunction with both spectroscopic and microscopic techniques. Whilst both channel and tubular electrodes can be used in... 

An armoury of powerful electrochemical methods is available. Potential step techniques such as differential pulse DP or square-wave SW voltammetry offer advantages in sensitivity and resolution. Hydrodynamic techniques involving use of rotating disc or rotating ring-disc electrodes allow the chemical steps of the electrode process to be separated from mass transport. Electrochemical transformations may be monitored optically with spectroelectrochemical methods. Even the electrode interface itself is amenable to study by in situ spectroscopic techniques. Detailed descriptions of these methods are to be found in appropriate texts [1-4]. 

The development of hydrodynamic techniques which allow the direct measurement of interfacial fluxes and interfacial concentrations is likely to be a key trend of future work in this area. Suitable detectors for local interfacial or near-interfacial measurements include spectroscopic probes, such as total internal reflection fluorometry [88-90], surface second-harmonic generation [91], probe beam deflection [92], and spatially resolved UV-visible absorption spectroscopy [93]. Additionally, building on the ideas in MEMED, submicrometer or nanometer scale electrodes may prove to be relatively noninvasive probes of interfacial concentrations in other hydrodynamic systems. The construction and application of electrodes of this size is now becoming more widespread and general [94-96]. 

This whole volume shows the advantages of combining electrochemistry and spectroscopy. In certain cases, it is valuable to link the electrode and the spectroscopic detection by a controlled hydrodynamic system. Concentration patterns can then be calculated and the spectroscopic signal can be quantitatively interpreted to yield kinetic data for the reaction mechanism. An example of this technique is our work [14, 22, 23] and that of Waller and Compton [24] using channel electrodes in an ESR spectrometer. 

Other techniques for studying protein molecnles in solntion are less infln-enced by these microscopic effects. Square-wave voltammetry is widely used due to its great sensitivity, and even a low density of productive sites on the electrode may give rise to a sharp and analyzable response [28]. The electrode may also be rotated to achieve forced convection and hydrodynamic control of solution redox species, while amperometric (and coulometric) measurements—where the current (or charge) is recorded following a potential step—enable the time and potential domains to be deconvoluted [28,29]. These options complement each other to provide a detailed picture of the thermodynamics and kinetics of redox processes. Finally, bulk electrolytic methods enable samples of a particular redox state to be prepared quantitatively for spectroscopic examination, at precise electrode potentials that may lie outside the range of conventional chemical titrants. 

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