Highly activated screen-printed carbon electrodes by electrochemical treatment with hydrogen peroxide

Abstract

An easy effective method for the activation of commercial screen-printed carbon electrodes (SPCEs) using H 2 O 2 is presented to enhance sensing performances of carbon ink. Electrochemical activation consists of 25 repetitive voltammetric cycles at 10 mVs 1 using 10 mM H 2 O 2 in phosphate buffer (pH 7). This treatment allowed us to reach a sensitivity of 0.24±0.01 µA µM-1 cm-2 for the electroanalysis of H 2 O 2 , which is 140-fold higher than that of untreated SPCEs and 6-fold more than screen-printed platinum electrodes (SPPtEs). Electrode surface properties were characterized by SEM, EIS and XPS. The results revealed atomic level changes at the electrode surface, with the introduction of new carbon-oxygen groups being responsible for improved electrotransfer properties and sensitivity. Our method was compared with other previously described ones. The methodology is promising for the activation of commercial carbon inks-based electrodes for sensor applications.

A Fast and Simple Ozone‐mediated Method towards Highly Activated Screen Printed Carbon Electrodes as Versatile Electroanalytical Tools

“…The increase of the electrode potential window considerably reduced the activation time, thereby achieving highly activated SPCEs in only 12 minutes at this scan rate (10 mV s −1 ). This is of relevance since this activation time is much lower than that previously reported by us preparing aSPCEs, which provided a reduction time of 92 % with sensitivities to H 2 O 2 electrooxidation in the same order of magnitude. A higher potential window (−3 V to 3 V, Figure 1SB) and a lower scan rate (5 mV s −1 , Figure 1SD) yielded higher sensitivities, although with a considerable increment in the time of activation.…”

“…The analysis of the C1s and O1s spectra showed a decrease of atomic content (at.%) of carbon and an increase of the at.% of oxygen in the aSPCEs compared to the nSPCE (Figures A and B). These additional oxygen functionalities are related with the enhancement of the electrochemical response of SPCEs, as previously reported in . XPS deconvolution of the C1s spectra showed the presence of peaks at 284.6, 285.5, 286.4 and 288.6 eV, assigned to graphitic C−C, C−C and/or C−H and/or C−N, C−O and C=O, respectively .…”

“…Our group has reported recently an alternative method based on the electrochemical activation of SPCEs using hydrogen peroxide and sulfuric acid/hydrogen peroxide solutions through the use of cyclic voltammetry (CV) in a certain potential range. In doing those pretreatments, the introduction of oxygenated groups on the carbon working electrode improved remarkably the electro‐transfer properties and enhanced sensitivity to hydrogen peroxide and phenolic compounds.…”

The Role of Functionalization in the Applications of Carbon Materials: An Overview

“…The rate of electron transfer is proportional to the density of oxygen based functionalities on the electrode surface [257]. As a consequence, these functionalities accelerate the reaction kinetic and the sensitivity towards the analytes [258]. Other highly reactive species are utilized to functionalize CNTs, graphene and fullerenes like halogens, radicals, carbenes, or nitrenes [22,259].…”

The Technological Process Modeling of Filling by Ink of the Net Cells in the High Accuracy Screen Printer

“…В ней важную роль играет способ трафаретной печати, позволяющий создать на подложке слой электропроводного вещества необходимой толщины. Анализ технической информации показывает рост применения трафаретной печати при проведении исследований в области печатной электроники [1][2][3][4][5][6][7][8][9][10][11]. Однако слабым местом трафретной печати является деформация сетчатой основы печатной формы, что ведет к снижению плотности монтажа и точности электронных компонентов.…”