Diamond and Hydrogenated Carbon Microelectrodes

描述(申请人提供)：拟议的研究将制造、评估和开发钻石和氢化碳纤维微电极，用于测量和检测电活性神经递质、相关代谢物和其他生物分析物。这些新型、低氧化物和化学稳定的微电极有可能对体外和体内的神经电化学测量产生重大影响，因为它们解决了常见的SP2碳纤维微电极经常遇到的几个问题/并发症。这些问题/并发症的存在是因为存在电活性和可电离的表面碳氧官能团。在直径20-100微米的W和Mo纤维上共形沉积掺硼微晶和含氮纳米晶金刚石薄膜，以及氢等离子体处理的碳纤维(直径10-40微米的沥青和聚丙烯腈基碳纤维)。这些电极材料与常用的sp2碳电极相比具有优势，包括较低的伏安和安培背景电流；没有与电活性表面碳-氧功能相关的背景伏安特征；由于没有可电离的碳-氧功能，带电溶液分析物的响应灵敏度没有变化；由于非极性的氢端接表面，因此不易结垢；检测下限低；这项研究的目标是(I)制备和全面表征微电极，(Ii)展示其在神经递质、代谢物和生物分析物测量中的有效性，(Iii)验证低氧表面解决了使用氧功能化电极时快速扫描伏安测量中存在的问题/并发症，(Iv)详细了解氢端表面的电极反应动力学和机理，以及(V)将电极应用于FIA-EC、LC-EC和CE-EC分析中，目的是显著提高分析检测优值系数。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): The proposed research will fabricate, evaluate and develop diamond and hydrogenated carbon fiber microelectrodes for use in the measurement and detection of electroactive neurotransmitters, related metabolites and other bioanalytes. These new, low oxide and chemically stable microelectrodes have the potential to significantly impact in vitro and in vivo neuroelectrochemical measurements because they solve several problems/complications often encountered with common sp2 carbon fiber microelectrodes. These problems/complications exist because of the presence of electroactive and ionizable surface carbon-oxygen functionalities. Boron-doped microcrystalline and nitrogen-incorporated nanocrystalline diamond films conformally deposited on 20-100 micron diameter W and Mo fibers, and hydrogen plasma treated carbon fibers (pitch and pan-based, 10-40 micron diameter) will be the microelectrodes investigated. These electrode materials offer advantages compared to commonly used sp2 carbon electrodes including a lower voltammetric and amperometric background current; no background voltammetnc features associated with electroactive surface carbon-oxygen functionalities; no variations in the response sensitivity for charged solution analytes due to the absence of ionizable carbon-oxygen functionalities; resistance to fouling due to the nonpolar, hydrogen-terminated surface; low limits of detection; and improved response precision and stability.The goals of the research are (i) to prepare and comprehensively characterize the microelectrodes, (ii) to demonstrate their efficacy for the measurement of neurotransmitters, metabolites and bioanalytes, (iii) to verify that the low oxide surfaces solve the problems/complications that exist in fast scan voltammetric measurements when oxygen functionalized electrodes are used, (iv) to develop a detailed understanding of the electrode reaction kinetics and mechanisms at the hydrogen-terminated surfaces and (v) to apply the electrodes in FIA-EC, LC-EC and CE-EC assays with the objective of significantly improving the analytical detection figures of merit.