Development of Surface Activated Screen‐Printed Carbon Transducers for Biosensors Application

Abstract

The influence of fabrication conditions on the properties of screen‐printed electrodes (SPCE) was investigated. Although SPCE possessed low activity toward oxidation/reduction of Fe(CN)₆ ^3−/4− their electron‐transfer properties were significantly improved by electrochemical treatment. Activated SPCE were modified by the reduction of 4‐nitrophenyl diazonium tetrafluoroborate in acetonitrile, followed by further reduction to phenylamine groups. The conditions used for modification proved to be of great importance in the resulting structure of the surface‐deposited nitrophenyl layer. The properties of the grafted layers were investigated by cyclic voltammetry and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy.

Keywords:

• Screen‐printed carbon electrodes
• surface modification
• aryl diazonium reduction

Financial support via receipt of a Dorothy Hodgkin Postgraduate Award is greatly acknowledged by NAP. We also wish to acknowledge Dr. Kevin Critchley for assistance with XPS measurements.