Electroanalysis using macro-, micro-, and nanochemical architectures on electrode surfaces. Bulk surface modification of glassy carbon microspheres with gold nanoparticles and their electrical wiring using carbon nanotubes

Gold nanoparticles (∼30−60 nm in diameter) were deposited onto the surface of glassy carbon microspheres (10−20 μm) through electroless plating to produce bulk (i.e., gram) quantities of nanoparticle surface-modified microspheres. The gold nanoparticle-modified powder was then characterized by means of scanning electron microscopy and cyclic voltammetry. The voltammetric response of a macroelectrode consisting of a film of gold nanoparticle-modified glassy carbon microspheres, bound together and “wired-up” using multiwalled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs), was investigated. We demonstrate that by intelligently exploiting both nano- and microchemical architectures and wiring up the electroactive centers using MWCNTs in this way, we can obtain macroelectrode voltammetric behavior while only using ∼1% by mass of the expensive gold material that would be required to construct the equivalent gold film macrodisk electrode. The potential utility of electrodes constructed using chemical architectures such as this was demonstrated by applying them to the analytical determination of arsenic(III) concentration. An optimized limit of detection of 2.5 ppb was obtained.