The effect of electrocatalytic nanoparticle injection on the electrochemical response at a rotating disc electrode

A new approach to study electrocatalytic oxidation of glucose is proposed. As opposed to numerous studies on electrodes modified with gold nanoparticles this reaction was studied in their suspension of gold nanoparticles under hydrodynamic conditions on a noncatalytic glassy carbon rotating disc electrode. It has been shown that addition of nanogram amount of positively charged Au nanoparticles results in a clear current response, whereas no clear response is seen for negatively charged ones. This effect results from the electrocatalytic oxidation of glucose on Au nanoparticles mainly adsorbed on glassy carbon electrode. The role of electrode preparation method on reproducibility of the results is emphasized.