Abstract
Boron-doped diamond (BDD) is of increasing interest for applications in electrochemical sensing. It is well known that the sp2carbon content in BDD influences its electrochemical properties as electrode material. In this work, evidence is provided that the surface sp2 carbon content plays a crucial role in the electrochemical sensitivity of BDD towards glucose. Single-crystal BDD, freestanding polycrystalline BDD and glassy carbon (sp2 carbon reference material) were examined by voltammetry. Neither single-crystal BDD, which is free of sp2 carbon, nor pure sp2 glassy carbon could detect glucose in the range of 0.2–1.0 V. On the other hand, glucose oxidation was observed on polycrystalline BDD, and with increasing intensity with increase of sp2 carbon content. Thus, an optimum amount of (B-doped) sp2 carbon in the BDD electrode is needed for best sensing performance. Understanding this, and being able to control the composition of BDD, are not only important to glucose detection but to any electrochemical sensing application involving BDD.
Highlights
Glucose detection and monitoring are extremely important proced ures in healthcare and in the lives of millions of people who suffer from diabetes around the world
These results provide strong indication that (B-doped) sp2 carbon con tent is essential for electrochemical sensing of glucose using Boron-doped diamond (BDD) electrodes
BDD model electrodes with controlled amounts of sp2 carbon were systematically studied for non-enzymatic electrochemical detection of glucose
Summary
Glucose detection and monitoring are extremely important proced ures in healthcare and in the lives of millions of people who suffer from diabetes around the world. In 2005, Lee et al reported for the first time that BDD electrodes can directly detect glucose without any modifica tion with enzymes or metallic catalysts [13]. The more sp carbon content in the BDD electrode, the higher the conduc tivity of the electrode, resulting in higher voltammetric background current and narrower water potential window [17] This was found to be unfavourable for glucose sensing [18]. One of the main difficulties in making sense of these reports, lies in the fact that the BDD electrodes used were fabricated under different processing conditions and had distinct grain sizes, boron-doping levels, surface morphologies, substrates, and were potentially exposed to different contaminants. Linear sweep voltammetry (LSV) was used and the peak current densities were derived for glucose concen trations in the range from 0 to 15 mM
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