Effect of the Wire Diameter on the Stability of Micro-Scale Ag/AgCl Reference Electrode

Abstract

Silver chloride that is commonly used as a reference electrode in many chemical sensors is stable when its dimensions are relatively large. However, its use in sensors, especially in nanosensors, requires that its size be reduced significantly. In this paper, we report that the stability of very small silver chloride electrodes could be obtained if a specific potential is applied. The AgCl wires produced by electrodeposition are investigated by the chronoamperometry technique. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) is used to study the properties of the surface of the fabricated wires surface obtained. We found that the stability depends on the silver chloride surface morphology. Indeed, the Ag/AgCl wire provided a more stable potential when its surface morphology is like nanosheets. It seems that this surface morphology obtained for Ag/AgCl wire with a micrometric diameter is a promising element that could be used to measure a variety of biological parameters such as membrane potential, intracellular free ion concentrations and cell-to-cell communication.

Potentiometric Sensing

“…Mechaour et al studied the effect of the Ag wire diameter and the surface morphology of deposited AgCl on the stability of the resulting microscale Ag/AgCl elements 8 . Bühlmann's group had shown earlier that the permselective properties of nanopourus glass junction materials called Vycor may result in large errors upon contact with dilute electrolyte solutions.…”

“…Mechaour et al studied the effect of the Ag wire diameter and the surface morphology of deposited AgCl on the stability of the resulting microscale Ag/AgCl elements. 8 Buḧlmann's group had shown earlier that the permselective properties of nanoporous glass junction materials called Vycor may result in large errors upon contact with dilute electrolyte solutions. They continued this work by investigating different available liquid junction materials such as Teflon, polyethylene, and two porous glasses sold under the brand names CoralPor and Electroporous KT.…”

Biosynthesis of high antibacterial silver chloride nanoparticles against Ralstonia solanacearum using spent mushroom substrate extract

“…Most previous studies have focused on traditional nano-antibacterial agents such as nano-ZnO, nano-TiO 2 and nano-Ag [4], while few have focused on nano-AgCl. In previous studies, AgCl nanoparticles are widely used as a photographic material, catalyst, ionic semiconductor, and reference electrode due to their high stability and optical activity [5][6][7]. Recently, more studies indicated that nano-AgCl exhibited high antibacterial activity against Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus with a low minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) [5,8].…”