The underlying electrode causes the reported ‘electro-catalysis’ observed at C60-modified glassy carbon electrodes in the case of N-(4-hydroxyphenyl)ethanamide and salbutamol

Carbon Nanomaterials in Electrochemical Detection

This chapter overviews the use of carbon nanomaterials in the field of electroanalysis and considers why carbon-based nanomaterials are widely utilized and explores the current diverse range that is available to the practising electrochemist, which spans from carbon nanotubes to carbon nanohorns through to the recent significant attention given to graphene.

Fullerene hollow microspheres prepared by bubble-templates as sensitive and selective electrocatalytic sensor for biomolecules

We developed an electrocatalytic sensor based on C(60) hollow microspheres for highly sensitive and selective detection of dopamine (DA) in the presence of ascorbic acid (AA), and uric acid (UA) in the presence of l-cysteine (RSH). The hollow microspheres of C(60) with a diameter controllable in the range of 0.5 to 1.5 μm and a thickness of 200 nm are synthesized by a high-temperature reprecipitation method with the assistance of alcohol bubbles. The superhydrophobicity of C(60) hollow microspheres makes them capable of forming a compact thin film at air/water interface, which can be readily transferred on the surface of gold or glassy carbon electrodes. This porous C(60) film made from C(60) hollow microspheres shows a specific surface area as high as 107 m(2) g(-1). In order to obtain a conducting film, the C(60)-modified electrode is pretreated by scanning the potential range from 0.0 to -1.5 V in 1 M KOH followed by potential cycling between 550 to -50 mV in a pH 7.2 phosphate buffer solution. On the basis of XPS and IR measurements, we found that surface oxides, such as -OH and C═O groups, are introduced on the surfaces of the conducting C(60) film. This, combined with the porosity that enhances the adsorption activity of C(60)-modified electrodes, enable the electrocatalytic analysis of target biomolecules with detection limit as low as 0.1 nM for DA in the presence of AA, and 1 μM for UA in the presence of RSH.