From Modified Electrodes to Digital Instrumentation in Electroanalytical Chemistry

Work done on applications of modified electrodes to electroanalytical chemistry and digital instrumentation for electrochemical measurements in our laboratory in recent years will be presented. First, applications of modified electrodes with conducting polymer films and selfassembled monolayers (SAMs) of thiolated cyclodextrins will be demonstrated.     

Ascorbate amperometric determination using conducting copolymers from aniline and N-(3-propane sulfonic acid)aniline

The sequential electrochemical polymerization of aniline and N-(3-propane sulfonic acid)aniline (PSA) is proposed to construct a sensor able to detect ascorbate at physiological conditions. Compared to poly(aniline) modified electrode, a device with improved conducting and electrochemical properties at neutral pH is obtained. The electrochemical copolymerization of the same starting materials is also carried out. For a PSA:aniline ratio of 10:90, a polymer with a similar electrochemical behavior to the one grown in the sequential mode is observed.The detection of ascorbate was tested for both configurations at pH 7.2, the modified electrode is able to determine ascorbate at 0 mV versus Ag/AgCl; an optimized sensor constructed by sequential polymerization can easily detect ascorbate concentrations with a detection limit of 2.2 μM. Uric acid and dopamine does not interfere in the ascorbate determination.     

Measurement of Total Antioxidant Capacity by Electrogenerated Iodine at Disposable Screen Printed Electrodes

Total antioxidant capacity is an important parameter for the evaluation of the oxidative status in different kinds of biological samples such as plant extracts, or in food industry. We report a fast, easy, portable, cost‐effective electroanalytical method to measure total antioxidant capacity, based on the reaction of natural antioxidants with electrogenerated iodine using disposable platinum screen‐printed electrodes. This reaction can be measured by the increment of the electrochemical current signal of iodide oxidation to iodine during a voltammetric cycle. Iodine reacts with reducing compounds such as glutathione, ascorbate, gallic acid and NADH without interference of the corresponding oxidized counter‐parts. The addition of ascorbate oxidase also allows the concentration of ascorbate to be determined. The method was tested with real samples of plant extracts and the results correlated well with those obtained with a standard spectrophotometric method.     

Amperometric Glucose Biosensors Based on Composite Polymeric Structures to Prevent Interferences

ABSTRACT

High sensitive glucose biosensors were realised by oxidative polymerisation of amphiphilic pyrrole monomer-glucose oxidase mixtures, previously adsorbed on platinum electrodes. These sensors, based on H₂O₂ electrooxidation at 0.5V vs SCE, exhibited marked interferences due to electrooxidisable endogenous (ascorbate and urate) and exogenous (paracetamol) compounds. Bilayer structures, combining the preceding polymer film as an outer layer and electrogenerated poly(phenylene diamine), overoxidised polypyrrolic films or Nafion as an inner layer, were fabricated in order to minimise interferences. Finally, the use of Nafion as a semipermeable barrier appeared to be more efficient than the electrogenerated films. The Nafion-based biosensor exhibited glucose sensitivity of 0.4 mA.M^?1; .cm^?2, while interference of ascorbate, urate and paracetamol was negligible.     

Conducting polymer based amperometric enzyme electrodes

The construction and the properties of conducting-polymer based amperometric enzyme electrodes are reviewed. The main aim is to focus on the properties of conducting polymer films which are important for the construction of amperometric enzyme electrodes. Additionally, the review is focused on electron-transfer pathways between conducting-polymer integrated immobilized enzyme molecules and the modified electrode using free-diffusing redox mediators as well as direct electron transfer via the conducting-polymer wires. Possible future applications using microstructured conducting-polymer films will be discussed.     

In situ Raman spectroelectrochemical study of electrocatalytic processes at polyaniline modified electrodes: Redox vs. metal-like catalysis

Two processes of electrocatalytic oxidation of solution species at conducting polymer modified electrodes have been studied for the first time with in situ Resonance Raman spectroelectrochemical technique at a red laser excitation (λ = 632.8 nm), namely electrooxidation of hydroquinone at a sulfonated polyaniline modified electrode in an acidic solution and electrooxidation of ascorbic acid at polyaniline modified electrode in a pH-neutral solution. In both cases, characteristic Raman features have been identified for different redox forms of conducting polymers and changes in the net redox state of a polymer layer during electrooxidation of solution species have been studied. It has been shown that an increase in the concentration of oxidizable species causes an increase of the net content of a reduced form of polyaniline in the modifying layer. From this, the redox (vs. metal-like) mechanism of electrocatalysis at conducting polymer modified electrodes has been deduced.     

Manganese dioxide graphite composite electrodes: application to the electroanalysis of hydrogen peroxide, ascorbic acid and nitrite.

The modification of carbon powder with manganese dioxide using a wet impregnation procedure with electrochemical characterisation of the modified powder is described. The process involves saturation of the carbon powder with manganese(II) nitrate followed by thermal treatment at ca. 773 K leading to formation of manganese(IV) oxide on the surface of the carbon powder. The construction of composite electrodes based on manganese dioxide modified carbon powder and epoxy resin is also described, including optimisation of the percentage of the modified carbon powder. Composite electrodes showed attractive performances for electroanalytical applications, proving to be suitable for the electrochemical detection of hydrogen peroxide, ascorbic acid and nitrite ions with limits of detection comparable to the detection limits achieved by other analytical techniques. The results obtained for detection of these analytes, together with composite electrodes flexible design and low cost offers potential application of composite electrodes in biosensors.     

Crown-tetrathiafulvalenes attached to a pyrrole or an EDOT unit: synthesis, electropolymerization and recognition properties

A crown-tetrathiafulvalene electroactive receptor has been covalently linked to electropolymerizable pyrrole or 3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene monomers. The synthetic route to the monofonctionalized tetrathiafulvalene (TTF) ligand has been optimized. Two derivatives of pyrrole (N- and 3-substituted) were synthesized. The various substituted monomers have been electropolymerized to produce polypyrrole (PP) and poly(ethylenedioxothiophene) (PEDOT) films bearing the electroactive TTF moiety. The electroactivity of the polymer films is efficiently controlled by the well-defined two-step redox behavior of the TTF unit. In the case of PEDOT, an alternative post-polymerization derivatization strategy has been used, involving the grafting of the crown-TTF ligand on the previously grown PEDOT backbone. Though chemical derivatization is realized under heterogeneous conditions, in the bulk of the film, this strategy proved to be particularly efficient. These electrodes constitute the first examples of conducting polymer-based modified electrodes incorporating a TTF electrochemical probe, able to interact with a guest ion, such as Ba2+. The cation recognition properties of these various electrodes have been analyzed by cyclic voltammetry and their electroactivity in water as well as their regeneration capability have been investigated.     

Biosensors based on electropolymerized films: new trends

Electropolymerized films have received considerable attention in the development of biosensors and biochips, and are advancing rapidly. This paper reviews recent advances and scientific progress in electrochemical immobilization procedures for biological macromolecules on electrodes via electrogenerated polymer films. Biomolecule immobilization is classified as covalent linkage, attachment by affinity interactions, and physical entrapment. The last approach entails the use of conducting and non-conducting films, composite polymer films, and templates for the electropolymerization process. Some advances in the electrochemical transduction of biological events (enzymatic reaction, immunoreaction, or oligonucleotide hybridization) involving the redox properties or the conductivity of electropolymerized films are also presented.     

Electrochemical sensors and biosensors based on redox polymer/carbon nanotube modified electrodes: A review

The aim of this review is to present the contributions to the development of electrochemical sensors and biosensors based on polyphenazine or polytriphenylmethane redox polymers together with carbon nanotubes (CNT) during recent years. Phenazine polymers have been widely used in analytical applications due to their inherent charge transport properties and electrocatalytic effects. At the same time, since the first report on a CNT-based sensor, their application in the electroanalytical chemistry field has demonstrated that the unique structure and properties of CNT are ideal for the design of electrochemical (bio)sensors. We describe here that the specific combination of phenazine/triphenylmethane polymers with CNT leads to an improved performance of the resulting sensing devices, because of their complementary electrical, electrochemical and mechanical properties, and also due to synergistic effects. The preparation of polymer/CNT modified electrodes will be presented together with their electrochemical and surface characterization, with emphasis on the contribution of each component on the overall properties of the modified electrodes. Their importance in analytical chemistry is demonstrated by the numerous applications based on polymer/CNT-driven electrocatalytic effects, and their analytical performance as (bio) sensors is discussed.     

Modeling of electrocatalytic processes at conducting polymer modified electrodes

A mathematical model of electrocatalytic processes taking place at conducting polymer modified electrodes has been developed. The model takes into account the diffusion of solution species into a polymer film, diffusion of charge carriers within the film, and a chemical redox reaction within the film. The space- and time-resolved profiles for reactant and charge carrier concentration within the film, as well as dependencies of electric current on the concentration of solute species, reaction rate constant and thickness of a polymer layer have been obtained and discussed. It has been shown that, even at a relatively fast diffusion of charge carriers within the conducting polymer film, exceeding the diffusion rate of reactant by two orders of magnitude, electrocatalysis of solute species at conducting polymer modified electrodes proceeds within the polymer film rather than at the outer polymer/solution interface, i.e., electrocatalytic conversion follows a redox-mechanism rather than metal-like one. Based on the results obtained, optimization of reaction system parameters could be made for any particular case to get an optimum efficiency or reactant to product conversion.      

Dopamine and Glucose Sensors Based on Glassy Carbon Electrodes Modified with Melanic Polymers

This work deals with the study of polymers electrogenerated from different catechols at glassy carbon electrodes and the analytical applications of the resulting modified electrodes for dopamine quantification and glucose biosensing. The electropolymerization was performed from a 3.0×10^?3 M catechol solution (catechol, dopamine, norepinephrine, epinephrine or L ‐dopa in a 0.050 M phosphate buffer pH 7.40) by applying 1.00 V for 60 min. The properties of the polymers are very dependent on the nature of the catechol, L ‐dopa being the best. Glassy carbon electrodes modified with melanic polymers electrogenerated from L ‐dopa and norepinephrine were found to be suitable for dopamine determinations in flow systems, although the behavior was highly dependent on the nature of the monomer. Detection limits of 5.0 nM dopamine and interferences of 9.0 and 2.6% for 5.0×10^?4 M ascorbic acid and 5.0×10^?5 M dopac, respectively, were obtained at the glassy carbon electrode modified with a melanin‐type polymer generated from L ‐dopa (using 1.0×10^?3 M AA in the measurement solution). The advantages of using a melanin‐type polymer generated from dopamine to improve the selectivity of glucose biosensors based on carbon paste electrodes containing Pt and glucose oxidase (GOx) are also discussed. The resulting bioelectrodes combines the high sensitivity of metallized electrodes with the selectivity given by the polymeric layer. They exhibit excellent performance for glucose with a rapid response (around 10 seconds per sample), a wide linear range (up to 2.5×10^?2 M glucose), low detection limits (143 μM) and a highly reproducible response (R.S.D of 4.9%). The bioelectrodes are highly stable and almost free from the interference of large excess of easily oxidizable compounds found in biological fluids, such as ascorbic acid (AA), uric acid (UA) and acetaminophen.     

Electrooxidation of catecholamines at carbon nanotube-modified indium tin oxide electrodes

In this study, we prepared carbon nanotube (CNT)/Nafion-modified ITO electrodes and investigated their electrochemical behavior. The CNTs were dissolved in a solution of the ionic polymer Nafion and then CNT/Nafion composite films were deposited onto ITO electrodes through spin-coating of this homogeneous solution. We studied the effects of chemical pretreatment of the CNTs and the pH of the buffer on the electroanalytical behavior of the CNT/Nafion-modified ITO electrodes toward catecholamines. The modified electrodes enhanced the peak current and lowered the overpotentials. We observed high electrooxidative performance for the modified ITO electrodes: the oxidative currents of the catecholamines were up to 125-fold higher than those obtained using bare ITO electrodes.     

Electrochemical investigation of thin PEDOT film above an insulating substrate using scanning electrochemical microscopy

Thin layer of conducting polymer, poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) PEDOT, deposited on insulating substrates was electrochemically investigated. This study was performed through the reaction with a series of electrogenerated mediators at a microelectrode operating in the configuration of a scanning electrochemical microscope (SECM). The method proves to be a convenient tool for investigating redox properties of the electroactive materials onto insulating substrate and the occurrence of electron transfers across the modified substrate. The SECM results demonstrate the possibility of the regeneration of the mediator at the modified surface even if the used substrate is an insulator. The regeneration rate depends on the standard redox potential of the mediator, on the switching potential of the polymer and on its initial oxidation state. In addition, the obtained data could be analyzed through the construction of the steady state voltammograms allowing the extraction of the electrochemical properties of the thin organic layer deposited onto insulating surface.     

A glucose electrode based on carbon paste chemically modified with a ferrocene-containing siloxane polymer and glucose oxidase,coated with a poly(ester-sulfonic acid) cation-exchanger

A carbon-paste chemically modified with glucose oxidase and a ferrocene-containing siloxane polymer was further modified by coating the electrode surface with a poly(ester-sulfonic acid) cation-exchanger, Eastman AQ-29D. The polymer is obtained as a homogeneous aqueous dispersion at pH 5–6; when dried, the polymer coating is not water-soluble. The coating was shown not to be detrimental to the enzyme activity but to prevent electrochemically active anionic interferents such as ascorbate and urate from reaching the electrode surface. The polymer coating also prevented glucose oxidase from leaking out of the carbon paste into the contacting solution and protected the electrode surface from fouling agents present in urine and bovine serum albumin. Uncoated electrodes lost some 10-2-15% of their original response to glucose after storage in buffer for three weeks whereas the response of the coated electrodes remained constant. Calibration curves for glucose were strictly linear up to about 5 mM for uncoated and up to 20 mM for coated electrodes. The response current to glucose was not decreased after coating.     

Simulation of Electrochemical Process for Glucose Oxidase Immobilized Conducting Polymer Electrodes

Abstract

Computer simulation of electrochemical processes that govern the operation of conducting polymer modified electrodes (CPME) have been reported in this paper. Comparison of the behaviour of a biocatalyst (GOX) in free solution and in the immobilized phase in conducting polymer modified electrodes (CPME) has been provided The output has been obtained using the Runga Kutta numerical method solved by programming in FORTRAN 77. The results point out that the catalytic current generated by an immobilized enzyme in layer is larger as compared to that for the enzyme in solution, and that it varies with the thickness of the diffusion layer.     

Voltammetric Sensing of Trace Metals at a Poly(pyrrole‐malonic acid) Film Modified Carbon Electrode

The oxidative electropolymerization of the (3‐pyrrol‐1‐ylpropyl)malonic acid monomer 1 is a simple and reproducible one‐step procedure for the synthesis of complexing polymer film modified electrodes, which have been applied to the electroanalysis of Cu(II), Pb(II), Cd(II) and Hg(II) ions by preconcentration upon complexation, followed by anodic stripping analysis. The detection limits were determined from square‐wave voltammetry at 0.5 nM, 5 nM, 50 nM and 0.2 μM for Pb(II), Cu(II), Hg(II) and Cd(II), respectively, after 10 min preconcentration. The modified electrodes showed a better selectivity toward copper(II) ions. Analysis of copper in a tap water sample agreed well with ICPMS analysis results.     

联吡啶钌电化学发光传感器测定海洛因

利用离子液体为粘合剂制作碳糊电极,采用高分子聚合法,合成包埋有Ru(bpy)2(dcbpy)2+的高分子聚合物,将钌聚合物掺杂于离子液体碳糊电极中,制作电化学发光传感器.结果表明,此传感器具有很好的电化学发光特性,与用石蜡油为粘合剂制作的电化学发光传感器相比,离子液体为粘合剂的电化学发光传感器检测三丙胺的检出限降低1个数量级.海洛因对电化学发光传感器的发光信号有很好的增强作用,基于此建立了高灵敏度检测海洛因的电化学发光分析法,海洛因浓度与电化学发光信号在2.0×10-9～2.0×10-5 mol/L范围内呈良好的线性关系,检出限为8×10-10 mol/L (S/N=3).将电化学发光传感器在5.0×10-9 mol/L海洛因溶液中采用线性循环电位连续扫描60圈,相对标准偏差小于2.2%.本方法用于血清中海洛因的检测,其回收率为94%～101%.     

Development and characterization of a new conducting carbon composite electrode

A new conducting composite flexible material prepared from cellulose acetate (CA) polymer and graphite has been developed and used for the fabrication of electrodes, which were then characterized by cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) was used to provide information concerning the morphology of the composite electrode surface. The potential window, background currents and capacitance were evaluated by cyclic voltammetry in the pH range from 4.6 to 8.2. The voltammetry of model electroactive species demonstrates a close to reversible electrochemical behaviour, under linear diffusion control. The electroactive area of the composite electrodes increases after appropriate electrode polishing and electrochemical pre-treatment. The electrodes were used as substrate for the electropolymerisation of the phenazine dye neutral red, for future use as redox mediator in electrochemical biosensors. The composite electrodes were also successfully used for the amperometric detection of ascorbate at 0.0 V vs. SCE, and applied to the measurement of ascorbate in Vitamin C tablets; the sensor exhibits high sensitivity and a low detection limit of 7.7 μM. Perspectives for use as a versatile, mechanically flexible and robust composite electrode of easily adaptable dimensions are indicated.     

(Pentamethylcyclopentadienyl)(polypyridyl) rhodium and iridium complexes as electrocatalysts for the reduction of protons to dihydrogen and the hydrogenation of organics

The ability of [(η⁵-C₅Me₅)M^III(L)Cl]⁺ complexes (M = Rh and Ir. L = 2,2′-bipyridine and 1, 10-phenanthroline) to act as electrocatalysts for the hydrogenation of unsaturated organic substrates has been examined in homogeneous acetonitrile solution, using formic acid as a proton source, as well as in aqueous electrolytes with electrodes modified by oxidative electropolymerization of pyrrole-substituted Rh(III) and Ir(III) complexes. The hydrogenation process involves the formation of an electrogenerated hydrido complex, followed by the insertion of the substrate in the metal-hydride bond. It appears that rhodium complexes are better catalysts than the iridium ones, and that their immobilization onto an electrode surface decreases their catalytic activity.