Electrochemical detection of hydrogen peroxide on platinum-containing tetrahedral amorphous carbon sensors and evaluation of their biofouling properties
By Noora Tujunen and Emilia Kaivosoja and Vera Protopopova and Juan Jos
Published in Materials Science and Engineering: C
2015
Abstract
Hydrogen peroxide is the product of various enzymatic reactions, and is thus typically utilized as the analyte in biosensors. However, its detection with conventional materials, such as noble metals or glassy carbon, is often hindered by slow kinetics and biofouling of the electrode. In this study electrochemical properties and suitability to peroxide detection as well as ability to resist biofouling of Pt-doped ta-C samples were evaluated. Pure ta-C and pure Pt were used as references. According to the results presented here it is proposed that combining ta-C with Pt results in good electrocatalytic activity towards \H2O2\ oxidation with better tolerance towards aqueous environment mimicking physiological conditions compared to pure Pt. In biofouling experiments, however, both the hybrid material and Pt were almost completely blocked after immersion in protein-containing solutions and did not produce any peaks for ferrocenemethanol oxidation or reduction. On the contrary, it was still possible to obtain clear peaks for \H2O2\ oxidation with them after similar treatment. Moreover, quartz crystal microbalance experiment showed less protein adsorption on the hybrid sample compared to Pt which is also supported by the electrochemical biofouling experiments for \H2O2\ detection.