University of Limerick
Browse

Characterization of nanoporous gold electrodes for bioelectrochemical applications

Download (1.14 MB)
journal contribution
posted on 2014-10-30, 10:13 authored by Micheál D. Scanlon, Urszula Salaj-Kośla, Serguei Belochapkine, Domhnall MacAodha, Dónal Leech, Yi Ding, Edmond MagnerEdmond Magner
The high surface areas of nanostructured electrodes can provide for significantly enhanced surface loadings of electroactive materials. The fabrication and characterization of nanoporous gold (np-Au) substrates as electrodes for bioelectrochemical applications is described. Robust np-Au electrodes were prepared by sputtering a gold-silver alloy onto a glass support and subsequent dealloying of the silver component. Alloy layers were prepared with either a uniform or nonuniform distribution of silver and, post dealloying, showed clear differences in morphology on characterization with scanning electron microscopy. Redox reactions under kinetic control, in particular measurement of the charge required to strip a gold oxide layer, provided the most accurate measurements of the total electrochemically addressable electrode surface area, A(real). Values of A(real) up to 28 times that of the geometric electrode surface area, A(geo), were obtained. For diffusion-controlled reactions, overlapping diffusion zones between adjacent nanopores established limiting semi-infinite linear diffusion fields where the maximum current density was dependent on A(geo). The importance of measuring the surface area available for the immobilization was determined using the redox protein, cyt c. The area accessible to modification by a biological macromolecule, A(macro), such as cyt c was reduced by up to 40% compared to A(real), demonstrating that the confines of some nanopores were inaccessible to large macromolecules due to steric hindrances. Preliminary studies on the preparation of np-Au electrodes modified with osmium redox polymer hydrogels and Myrothecium verrucaria bilirubin oxidase (MvBOD) as a biocathode were performed; current densities of 500 mu A cm(-2) were obtained in unstirred solutions.

Funding

Study on Aerodynamic Characteristics Control of Slender Body Using Active Flow Control Technique

Japan Society for the Promotion of Science

Find out more...

History

Publication

Langmuir;28 (4), pp. 2251-2261

Publisher

American Chemical Society

Note

peer-reviewed

Other Funding information

ERC, INSPIRE

Rights

This document is the unedited author's version of a Submitted Work that was subsequently accepted for publication in Langmuir, copyright © American Chemical Society after peer review. To access the final edited and published work, see http://dx.doi.org/10.1021/la202945s

Language

English

Usage metrics

    University of Limerick

    Categories

    No categories selected

    Exports

    RefWorks
    BibTeX
    Ref. manager
    Endnote
    DataCite
    NLM
    DC