Simple heat treatment for fabrication of carbonaceous layer-coated microelectrodes and conductive stainless steels

Abstract

A simple heat treatment was used to fabricate carbonaceous layer-coated electrodes: micro-ring electrodes and conductive stainless steel. Substrates of sharpened quartz capillaries or type-316 stainless steel plates were put in an alumina boat with powder of petroleum pitch A240F separately and heated at 1073–1273 K in a flow of nitrogen or argon. By this treatment, both of the substrates were coated with a uniform carbonaceous layer of several hundred nano-meters in thickness. The electric conductivity of the layer was improved by increases in temperature and period of the heating. The quartz glass-capillary covered with the conductive layer was modified to a needle-type microelectrode by coating with an insulating polymer and baring the tip. At least a dozen carbon micro-ring electrodes with an outer radius of about 1 μm were successfully prepared by the simple heat treatment. On the other hand, the carbonaceous layer formed on type-316 stainless steel showed relatively poor conductivity due to the formation of oxides in the layer. However, the conductivity was improved by electroplating of nickel on the substrate before the heating. The carbonaceous layer-coated stainless steel showed good corrosion resistance in sulphuric acid.