Rotating ring disk
electrodes (RRDEs) are a powerful and versatile
tool for mechanistically investigating electrochemical reactions at
electrode surfaces, particularly in the area of electroanalysis and
catalysis. Despite their importance, only limited electrode materials
(typically glassy carbon, platinum, and gold) and combinations thereof
are available commercially. In this work, we present a method employing
three-dimensional (3D) printing in conjunction with machined brass
components to produce housing, which can accommodate any electrode
material in,
e.g
., pressed powdered pellet, wafer,
rod, foil, or vapor deposited onto a conductive substrate form. In
this way, the range and usability of RRDEs is extended. This custom
do-it-yourself (DIY) approach to fabricating RRDEs also enables RRDEs
to be produced at a significant fraction of the cost of commercial
RRDEs. To illustrate the versatility of our approach, coplanar boron-doped
diamond (BDD) RRDEs are fabricated for the first time using the approach
described. Experimental collection efficiencies for the redox couple
FcTMA
+
/FcTMA
2+
are found to be very close to
those predicted theoretically. BDD electrodes serve as an ideal electrocatalyst
support due to their low background currents, wide solvent potential
window in aqueous solution, and chemical and electrochemical stability
in acid and alkali solutions. The BDD RRDE configuration is employed
to investigate the importance of surface-incorporated nondiamond carbon
in BDD on hydrogen peroxide generation
via
the oxygen
reduction reaction in acid solutions.