Highly boron-doped diamond (BDD) was deposited on chemically etched micrometer-sized tungsten wires using microwave plasma assisted chemical vapor deposition (MPCVD), and these were used to fabricate BDD microelectrodes. BDD microelectrodes with very small diameter (about 5 microm) and 250 microm in length could be made successfully. In addition to the unique properties of BDD electrodes, such as a very low background current, high stability, and selective oxidation of dopamine (DA) in the presence of ascorbic acid (AA), other superior properties of the microelectrodes, including a constant current response, an increase in the mass transport, and the ability for use in high resistance media were also shown. An application study was conducted for in vivo detection of DA in mouse brain, where the BDD microelectrode was inserted into the corpus striatum of the mouse brain. A clear signal current response following medial forebrain bundle (MFB) stimulation could be obtained with high sensitivity. Excellent stability was achieved, indicating that the BDD microelectrodes are very promising for future in vivo electroanalysis.

Electrochemical oxidation of oxalic acid has been investigated at bare, highly boron-doped diamond electrodes. Cyclic voltammetry and flow injection analysis with amperometric detection were used to study the electrochemical reaction. Hydrogen-terminated diamonds exhibited well-defined peaks of oxalic acid oxidation in a wide pH range. A good linear response was observed for a concentration range from 50 nM to 10 microM, with an estimated detection limit of approximately 0.5 nM (S/N = 3). In contrast, oxygen-terminated diamonds showed no response for oxalic acid oxidation inside the potential window, indicating that surface termination contributed highly to the control of the oxidation reaction. An investigation with glassy carbon electrodes was conducted to confirm the surface termination effect on oxalic acid oxidation. Although a hydrogen-terminated glassy carbon electrode showed an enhancement of signal-to-background ratio in comparison with untreated glassy carbon, less stability of the current responses was observed than that at hydrogen-terminated diamond.