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Maddah M, Unsworth CP, Gouws GJ, Plank NOV. Synthesis of encapsulated ZnO nanowires provide low impedance alternatives for microelectrodes. PLoS One 2022; 17:e0270164. [PMID: 35709181 PMCID: PMC9202946 DOI: 10.1371/journal.pone.0270164] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Grants] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 03/12/2022] [Accepted: 06/03/2022] [Indexed: 11/19/2022] Open
Abstract
Microelectrodes are commonly used in electrochemical analysis and biological sensing applications owing to their miniaturised dimensions. It is often desirable to improve the performance of microelectrodes by reducing their electrochemical impedance for increasing the signal-to-noise of the recorded signals. One successful route is to incorporate nanomaterials directly onto microelectrodes; however, it is essential that these fabrication routes are simple and repeatable. In this article, we demonstrate how to synthesise metal encapsulated ZnO nanowires (Cr/Au-ZnO NWs, Ti-ZnO NWs and Pt-ZnO NWs) to reduce the impedance of the microelectrodes. Electrochemical impedance modelling and characterisation of Cr/Au-ZnO NWs, Ti-ZnO NWs and Pt-ZnO NWs are carried out in conjunction with controls of planar Cr/Au and pristine ZnO NWs. It was found that the ZnO NW microelectrodes that were encapsulated with a 10 nm thin layer of Ti or Pt demonstrated the lowest electrochemical impedance of 400 ± 25 kΩ at 1 kHz. The Ti and Pt encapsulated ZnO NWs have the potential to offer an alternative microelectrode modality that could be attractive to electrochemical and biological sensing applications.
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Affiliation(s)
- Mohsen Maddah
- School of Chemical and Physical Science, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
- The MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, Wellington, New Zealand
- * E-mail:
| | - Charles P. Unsworth
- The MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, Wellington, New Zealand
- Department of Engineering Science, University of Auckland, Auckland, New Zealand
| | - Gideon J. Gouws
- The MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, Wellington, New Zealand
- School of Engineering and Computer Science, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
| | - Natalie O. V. Plank
- School of Chemical and Physical Science, Victoria University of Wellington, Wellington, New Zealand
- The MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, Wellington, New Zealand
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