We report an electrochemical study of the collisions of single droplets in an emulsion by two methods. In the first method, an electroactive redox species, for example, ferrocene, inside a toluene-in-water emulsion droplet (but not in the continuous phase) is measured by chronoamperometry during a collision with an ultramicroelectrode (UME). Here, a blip or spike type of collision signal is observed, representing electrolysis of the droplet contents. In the second method, electrochemical oxidation of an electroactive redox species in the continuous aqueous phase is hindered by a droplet blocking collision. In this case, a staircase current decrease is observed. From an analysis of single soft particle collision data, one can find the emulsion droplet size distribution and the droplet contents.

The individual adsorption events of sub-μm silica and polystyrene spheres (310-530 nm in diam.) were detected by monitoring the blocking of redox mediator diffusion to Pt ultramicroelectrode (UME) substrates by the adsorbing spheres. Under the diffusion limited oxidation of FcMeOH and at low supporting electrolyte concentrations, the negatively charged spheres arrive at the electrode by electrophoretic migration. Sphere adsorption monitoring experiments consisted of long-time (1000-5000 s) chronoamperograms recorded in solutions with fM concentrations of spheres and different concentrations of supporting electrolyte. Trends in the heights of the step features with time reflect changing surface coverage of spheres, and coupled step features in the chronoamperograms suggest dynamic rearrangement of spheres on the surface. Numerical simulations of diffusion blocking at electrodes by adsorbing particles as well as mass transport of particles under migration were also performed, and show good agreement with the experimental data collected.

We report observations of stochastic collisions of murine cytomegalovirus (MCMV) on ultramicroelectrodes (UMEs), extending the observation of discrete collision events on UMEs to biologically relevant analytes. Adsorption of an antibody specific for a virion surface glycoprotein allowed differentiation of MCMV from MCMV bound by antibody from the collision frequency decrease and current magnitudes in the electrochemical collision experiments, which shows the efficacy of the method to size viral samples. To add selectivity to the technique, interactions between MCMV, a glycoprotein-specific primary antibody to MCMV, and polystyrene bead "anchors," which were functionalized with a secondary antibody specific to the Fc region of the primary antibody, were used to affect virus mobility. Bead aggregation was observed, and the extent of aggregation was measured using the electrochemical collision technique. Scanning electron microscopy and optical microscopy further supported aggregate shape and extent of aggregation with and without MCMV. This work extends the field of collisions to biologically relevant antigens and provides a novel foundation upon which qualitative sensor technology might be built for selective detection of viruses and other biologically relevant analytes.collisions | cytomegalovirus | electrochemistry | murine cytomegalovirus | virus O ver the past decade, the study of discrete collision events on ultramicroelectrodes (UMEs) has gained attention due to the interest in understanding stochastic phenomena by electrochemistry. By observing the collisions of small particles, there is the possibility that information can be deduced that is not available in ensemble measurements. The electrochemical study of single collision events has been applied to a wide range of hard nanoparticles (NPs), which include metal, metal oxide, and organic NPs [platinum (1), silver (2), gold (3), nickel (4), copper (5), iridium oxide (6), cerium oxide (7), titanium oxide (8), silicon oxide (9), indigo (10), polystyrene (11), and relatively large aggregates of fullerene (12)]. Recently, collisions of soft particles have been investigated, such as toluene droplets (13) and liposomes (14). Also, collisions of toluene and tri-n-propylamine droplets were observed simultaneously by both electrochemical and electrogenerated chemiluminescent (ECL) measurements (15).Similarly, a variety of techniques have been developed to observe these collision events. The interested reader can consult the references for a discussion on each of the techniques used to observe stochastic events electrochemically: blocking (9, 13), electrocatalytic amplification (1), open circuit potential (16), droplet blocking/reactor (13,14), and ECL (15,17,18). The simplest and most reproducible method of observing collisions is a technique termed blocking, which is so named because particles, which are brought to the electrode by a diffusion-limited flux and/or electrophoretic migration, irreversibly adsorb (1) to the electrode surface, blocking the flux of red...

We report that conductive single nanoparticle (NP) collisions can involve a significant component of the mass transport to the electrode of the charged NPs by migration. Previously, collision events of catalytic NPs were described as purely diffusional using random walk theory. However, the charged NP can also be attracted to the electrode by the electric field in solution (i.e., migration) thereby causing an enhancement in the collision frequency. The migration of charged NPs is affected by the supporting electrolyte concentration and the faradaic current flow. A simplified model based on the NP transference number is introduced to explain the migrational flux of the NPs. Experimental collision frequencies and the transference number model also agreed with more rigorous simulation results based on the Poisson and Nernst−Planck equations.

When a disk microelectrode is polarized with an alternating potential of very high frequency (0.1-2 GHz) and a high amplitude (up to 2.8 V rms), the electrode is heated up, and at the same time, a very intense electric field is created around the electrode (>10(6) V/m for electrodes 1 microm in radius). This strong electric field gives rise to positive or negative dielectrophoretic effects. Positive dielectrophoretic effects can be used to assemble nanowires from nanoparticles at the electrode edge. On the other hand, a negative dielectrophoretic effect is probably responsible for "jet boiling" observed at overheated microelectrodes. In addition, a combination of a high temperature gradient and a high potential gradient generates an intense electrothermal flow of solution which very strongly enhances the mass transport and is responsible for intense convection in such systems. The electrothermal flow and dielectrophoretic forces can be generated directly on a microelectrode employed in electrochemical detection because the high frequency ac polarization of the electrode does not interfere with the acquisition of analytical signals.