Tetrahedral amorphous carbon Ta-C films

The electrochemical properties of electrically conducting Ta-C films have not yet been extensively studied, hi fact, there have only been a couple of literature citations. Yoo et al. studied the electrochemical behavior of nitrogen-incorporated Ta-C thin-film electrodes (118). A low background cnrrent and a wide working potential window ( 3 V) in aqueous 

Like diamond, polishing is not practical due to the material hardness. There would simply be no new carbon exposed, but contaminant layers would be removed from the surface. There would also likely be some surface oxygen incorporation if the polishing is performed in the ambient. 

Solvent cleaning, as applied to other carbon electrodes, is expected to be an effective, nondamaging method of electrode pretreatment. Several different solvents can be used to clean the electrode surface including acetonitrile, isopropanol, dichloromethane, and toluene. The solvents should first be distilled for purification. Reagent-grade solvents often contain impurities at levels that can cause significant electrode deactivation. AC can be added to the distilled solvents for additional purification. Soak times of 20-30 min should be adequate. The solvent cleaning can also be performed by Soxhlet extraction. 

Electrochemical polarization might also be a useful pretreatment method, but this remains to be determined. Surface oxygen would certainly be incorporated during such a treatment but the extent of morphological and microstructural alteration would depend on the spVsp fraction of the film. The more sp -bonded carbon there is, the greater is the 

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