Total phenol analysis of weakly supported water using a laccase-based microband biosensor

The monitoring of phenolic compounds in wastewaters in a simple manner is of great importance for environmental control. Here, a novel screen printed laccase-based microband array for in situ, total phenol estimation in wastewaters and for water quality monitoring without additional sample pre-treatment is presented. Numerical simulations using the finite element method were utilized for the characterization of micro-scale graphite electrodes. Anodization followed by covalent modification was used for the electrode functionalization with laccase. The functionalization efficiency and the electrochemical performance in direct and catechol-mediated oxygen reduction were studied at the microband laccase electrodes and compared with macro-scale electrode structures. The reduction of the dimensions of the enzyme biosensor, when used under optimized conditions, led to a significant improvement in its analytical characteristics. The elaborated microsensor showed fast responses towards catechol additions to tap water – a weakly supported medium – characterized by a linear range from 0.2 to 10 μM, a sensitivity of 1.35 ± 0.4 A M⁻¹ cm⁻² and a dynamic range up to 43 μM. This enhanced laccase-based microsensor was used for water quality monitoring and its performance for total phenol analysis of wastewater samples from different stages of the cleaning process was compared to a standard method.     

修饰微带金电极上细胞色素C电极过程的热力学研究

研究了细胞色素Ｃ（Ｃｙｔ．Ｃ）在一种新的电子转移促进剂４，６－二甲基－２－巯基嘧啶修饰微带金电极（ＤＭＭＰ／Ａｕ）上的氧化还原热力学；求得Ｃｙｔ．Ｃ在ＤＭＭＰ／Ａｕ电极上反应的标准电极电位Ｅ＾ｏ，熵变△Ｓ＾ｏ，焓变△ＩＩ＾ｏ及Ｇｉｂｂｓ自由能的改变△Ｇ１０值分别为：０．２７２Ｖ（ｕｓ．ＮＨＥ），－１２３．７Ｊ．ｍｏｌ＾－＾１，－６３．１ｋＪ．ｍｏｌ．ｍｏｌ＾－＾１和－２６．２ｋＪ．ｍｏｌ＾－＾１（     

基于微带阵列电极的微型葡萄糖传感器研究

用微电子薄膜技术制作了微带阵列电极（ＭＡＥ）,考察了该电极在铁氰化钾,过氧化氢溶液中的电化学行为。在微带阵列电极表面,修饰一层全氟代磺酸酯膜作为基底电极,并把电子介体二茂铁及葡萄糖氧化酶固定在基底电极上制备了微型葡萄糖传感器,探讨了微酶电极对葡萄糖氧化过程的催化作用。该微酶电极响应时间小于１０ｓ,检测线性上限为８ｍｍｏｌ／Ｌ。     

Theory and practice of electrochemical titrations with dual microband electrodes

Dual parallel microband electrodes, operated as a generator–collector pair and made by a simple, inexpensive mass-production method, have been used to implement a ‘titration’ method. The solution contains the electro-inactive analyte and a reagent from which the titrant can be generated electrochemically. The galvanostatically generated titrant is detected at the collector amperometrically. The collection efficiency is affected by the reaction between the titrant and the analyte. Determination of ascorbic acid by titration against ferricyanide is given as an example. The measurement is performed as follows: After application of the collector potential, the boundary conditions between measurements are renewed by a quick pulsed motion of the electrode assembly. Then the generator current is applied. Following an initial delay, the collector current increases as t^1/2, with slope and collection efficiency dependent on analyte concentration. This results in a fast and effective method for implementing some standard titration methods without the need for accurate volume measurement and reagent preparation. The accuracy is determined by the reproducibility of electrodes. The present work shows concentration measurements in the mM scale to ≈±10%, in a time of a few seconds. The highly stable extrapolation method used for numerical simulation of the generator–collector experiment, which takes into account the non-uniform current distribution over a microband electrode with a galvanostatic boundary condition, is developed using a conformal map. A good agreement between simulations and experimental results was obtained in voltammetric, potential step and generator–collector measurements. It is shown that a useful approximate calculation can be made rather easily by representing the problem in terms of a reaction layer in the conformal space.     

A novel reagentless glutamate microband biosensor for real-time cell toxicity monitoring

A reagentless glutamate biosensor was applied to the determination of glutamate released from liver hepatocellular carcinoma cells (HepG2) in response to toxic challenge from various concentrations of paracetamol. A screen printed carbon electrode (SPCE) containing the electrocatalyst Meldola's Blue (MB-SPCE) served as the electron mediator for the oxidation of NADH.     

Electroanalysis in flowing systems – the propagation of depletion effects downstream of a channel micro-band electrode

Analytical and numerical methods are used to establish concentration distributions around channel microband electrodes both in isolation and as part of multi-electrode arrays. The importance of axial diffusion in addition to convection and diffusion normal to the electrode surface is stressed. In particular, downstream depletion effects are shown to occur over many electrode lengths, so that the diffusion fields of electrodes within arrays overlap and interfere. A simple analytical expression is derived to describe this depletion and permits the design of practical arrays in which electrodes operate essentially independently of each other.     

Microband Sensor for As(III) Analysis: Reduced Matrix Interference

A portable sensor based on a microband design for arsenic detection in drinking water is presented. The work was focused to minimize interference encountered with a standard screen‐printed electrodes featuring an onboard gold working electrode, carbon counter and silver−silver chloride pseudo‐reference electrodes as composite coatings on plastic surface. The interference effect was identified as chloride ions interacting with the silver surface of the reference electrode and formation of soluble silver chloride complexes such as AgCl₄³⁻. By modification of the reference electrodes with Nafion membrane (5 % in alcohols), the interference was entirely eliminated. However, membrane coverage and uniformity can impact the electrodes reproducibility and performance. Hence, the sensor design was further considered and a microband format was produced lending favorable diffusive to capacitive current characteristics. Using the microband electrodes allowed As(III) detection with limit of detection of 0.8 ppb (in 4 M HCl electrolyte), inherently avoiding the problems of electrode fouling and maximizing analyte signal in river water samples. This is below the World Health Organization limit of 10 μg L⁻¹ (ppb). The electrolyte system was chosen so as to avoid problems from other common metal ions, most notably Cu(II). The presented electrode system is cost effective and offers a viable alternative to the colorimetric test kits presently employed for arsenic analysis in drinking water.     

A microband lactate biosensor fabricated using a water-based screen-printed carbon ink

The present study demonstrated for the first time that screen-printed carbon microband electrodes fabricated from water-based ink can readily detect H₂O₂ and that the same ink, with the addition of lactate oxidase, can be used to construct microband biosensors to measure lactate. These microband devices were fabricated by a simple cutting procedure using conventional sized screen-printed carbon electrodes (SPCEs) containing the electrocatalyst cobalt phthalocyanine (CoPC). These devices were characterised with H₂O₂ using several electrochemical techniques. Cyclic voltammograms were found to be sigmoidal; a current density value of 4.2 mA cm⁻² was obtained. A scan rate study revealed that the mass transport mechanism was a mixture of radial and planar diffusion. However, a further amperometric study under quiescent and hydrodynamic conditions indicated that radial diffusion predominated. A chronoamperometric study indicated that steady-state currents were obtained with these devices for a variety of H₂O₂ concentrations and that the currents were proportional to the analyte concentration. Lactate microband biosensors were then fabricated by incorporating lactate oxidase into the water-based formulation prior to printing and then cutting as described. Voltammograms demonstrated that lactate oxidase did not compromise the integrity of the electrode for H₂O₂ detection. A potential of +400 mV was selected for a calibration study, which showed that lactate could be measured over a dynamic range of 1-10 mM which was linear up to 6 mM; a calculated lower limit of detection of 289 μM was ascertained. This study provides a platform for monitoring cell metabolism in-vitro by measuring lactate electrochemically via a microband biosensor.     

Computational Study of Chronoamperometry at Rectangular Microelectrodes

Three (space) dimensional diffusion to a rectangular microelectrode of length l and width w, embedded in an infinite coplanar insulator is simulated with boundary conditions for a chronoamperometric experiment. An alternating direction implicit finite difference method (Douglas‐Gunn algorithm) utilizing a problem adapted grid is used to solve the diffusion equation. Current transients are computed for different values of the dimensionless length parameter L=l/w, starting with L=1, i.e., a square electrode. Edge effects at the four sides of the rectangular electrode as well as the vertex effect contribute to the total current. With increasing L the transients approach the behavior of a microband electrode transient, where diffusion is essentially two dimensional. The breakdown of the two dimensional diffusion approach with decreasing values of L is analyzed and quantified. This serves as a guideline for analyzing transients measured with electrodes where the condition l » w is not fulfilled.     

Microband electrodes of ideal and nonideal geometries: AC impedance spectroscopy

The AC impedance behavior of microband electrode geometries which deviate from the ideal is derived via numerical modelling of the chronoamperometric response under diffusion-only conditions. Specifically attention is given to four electrode shapes in addition to the ideal microband geometry: elevated microband electrodes (with conducting supporting sides), recessed microband electrodes (with insulating pit walls), platform electrodes (with insulating supporting sides) and, for the purposes of comparison, a hypothetical line electrode without any support which permits diffusional mass transport to both sides of the infinitesimally thin electrode. Simple analytical expressions are established for the frequency dependence of the AC impedance in each case.