New developments in screen printing for advances in electroanalysis

Tan, Fang (2013) New developments in screen printing for advances in electroanalysis. Doctoral thesis (PhD), Manchester Metropolitan University.

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Abstract

Within the discipline of electrochemistry, the sub-section that concerns itself with quantification is electroanalysis, which is the basis of portable and sensitive sensors; this is exemplified in the billion dollar glucose market where their development allows diabetics to measure their blood glucose on-the-spot without recourse to the clinic. Screen-printing is a suitable method to fabricate such a sensor which is mass-produced yet reproducible and economical in nature. In order for the next-generation of biosensors (such as the glucose sensors), advances in screen-printed electrode design needs to be made; this is exactly what this Master’s Thesis aims to achieve. This thesis first considers the fabrication of platinum screen-printed macroelectrodes, which are analytically explored and benchmarked towards the sensing of selected target analytes. Next, palladium screen-printed macroelectrodes are fabricated and characterised via microscopy and cyclic voltammetry, in particular, the electroanalytical applications are explored towards the sensing of formaldehyde, hydrazine and its potential use in gas sensors for the sensing of hydrogen and methane with comparisons made to existing literature reports. Note that such an electrode made entirely via screen-printing has not been reported before in the literature. In order to improve mass transport properties, shallow recessed screen-printed electrodes are designed and fabricated and benchmarked towards the sensing of NADH and nitrite. The electroanalytical sensing of nitrite is further testing within canal water samples showing the robust nature of the sensors analytical performance. Additionally these unique sensors were found to be electrochemically useful in sensing towards hydrazine and hydrogen peroxide. Finally, carbon screen-printed microelectrode arrays are fabricated and are benchmarked towards the sensing of acetaminophen, dopamine and nitrite. Note that this is 3 the first example of an array which exhibits diffusional independence (the current literature reports only arrays that have diffusional interaction) and as such gives rise to analytically useful measurements. This screen printed microelectrode array is also shown to be possible to be produced with gold working electrodes which are benchmarked towards the determination of Chromium (VI).