Investigations of Ultra-High Surface Area Carbon Fibers

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This project, a joint effort of Professor Theodore Kuwana at the University of Kansas and Professor Richard Kelly at Merrimack College and funded by Analytical and Surface Chemistry, is a continuation of fundamental studies on the electrochemistry of ultra-high surface area carbon fibers, and the use of these fibers as platforms on which dehydrogenase-based sensors can be developed. The fibers of interest are those that are formed by a process of fracture, which increases the surface area and the associated capacitance of the fiber tip. The electrochemical characteristics observed in a cyclic voltammetry experiment using these fractured fibers as electrodes also changes significantly. Fracture of the carbon fibers is accomplished electrically, and the conditions under which reproducible fracture surfaces can be attained are investigated. The fracture surfaces are characterized with surface derivatization and species adsorption, and with scanning electron microscopy and atomic force microscopy. The reproducibly fractured carbon fibers are used as the supports for a multienzyme sensor used for the analysis of L-phenylalanine. Levels of L phenylalanine are an important early indicator of phenylketonuria. The project is carried out by collaborative efforts of undergraduate researchers at the University of Kansas and at Merrimack College. Small carbon fibers that are cleanly fractured at their ends have special properties that make them very useful as supports for small biosensors. This project, a joint undergraduate research project between Professor Kuwana at the University of Kansas and Professor Kelly at Merrimack College, studies how to accomplish the fracture process in a reproducible fashion, and how to build an enzymesensor based on the fractured fiber. The fiber sensor is used in the early detection of phenylketonuria by monitoring levels of L-phenylalanine.