Cyclic biamperometry at micro-interdigitated electrodes

Cyclic biamperometry was studied as an analytical method for use with commercially available, comb-type, coplanar microinterdigitated electrodes (μIDEs), using the ferri-/ferrocyanide redox couple as a model analyte. The μIDEs studied in this work were made of gold that had been deposited onto a Ti/W adhesion layer on borosilicate glass chips and had 5 and 10 μm bands with equal gap sizes. Close proximity of the two working electrodes, and their interdigitation, resulted in signal amplification by redox cycling. Results were compared with those obtained by cyclic voltammetry, where one of the two IDE electrodes was used as the working electrode and external reference and auxiliary electrodes were used. Amplification factors of almost 20 were achieved due to redox cycling. Attempts to apply cyclic voltammetry to the μIDEs, with one of the combs as the working and the other as the auxiliary electrode, were unsuccessful due to corrosion of the auxiliary electrode comb. Results of this study, and the electrochemically unique feature of biamperometry to probe but not change the net contents of the medium under examination, suggest the applicability of scanning biamperometry at μIDEs to the very small volumes and electrochemical cell dimensions that are now of great interest.