From the PrefaceElectrochemical sensors occupy an enviable position amongst the analytical probes available for applied analytical chemistry, e.g. in process control and in the analysis of clinical, industrial and environmental samples. When compared to other analytical techniques (such as spectroscopy, mass spectrometry and chromatography) electrochemical techniques have continually proved to be more sensitive and selective towards redox-active organic and inorganic analytes, faster response times, more easily to be miniaturized (portability) for field or on-the-spot-analysis, and yet less expensive. The past 15 years have witnessed an unprecedented number of publications in electroanalysis because of the ever-increasing discovery and/or synthesis of many new electroactive materials suitable for the design and fabrication of high-performance electrochemical sensors.
This book is an attempt to provide some recent research topics in analytical electrochemistry notably, carbon naotube-based electrodes, diamond-based electrodes, metallophthalocyanine-based electrodes, field-effect potentiometric biosensors, impedance spectroscopy, voltammetry in coupled electrochemical techniques for trace metal analysis, microelectrochemistry for biomedical analysis, screen-printed electrodes, polyaniline polymers in peroxide-based amperometric sensors. Purposefully, authors invited for this book come from different countries across the globe and represent a broad range of researchers in electroanalytical materials and methods. It is difficult (if not impossible) to cover the vast areas of electroanalytical chemistry being constantly developed, however, the authors have, in remarkable different manners, addressed the main questions that bind this volume together: What constitute the design and fabrication strategies being explored and employed? What chemical and biological materials are being explored as potential and viable electrode materials in order to improve electrochemical response, i.e., linear concentration range, sensitivity, selectivity, detection limits, simplicity/portability, durability/stability and response time?
The first chapter of the book introduces electrochemical sensors, and gives the methods generally used in electrode modification as well as the mechanistic pathways for the electroanalytical detection of analytes. Although the chapter specifically focused on metallophthalocyanine-based electrodes, the principle certainly applies to most known modified electrodes. In chapter 2, Hanrahan and Zhou, provide an overview of recent voltammetric and select coupled electrochemical techniques for trace metal analysis. In this chapter, these authors gave some theoretical backgrounds concerning the various techniques and discussed the specific applications from direct laboratory and field-based studies. Carbon nanotube-based electrodes are gaining intense research interests among electroanalysts world-wide. The groups of Compton and Banks, to my knowledge, have published more works in this area than any other workers in this field. In Chapter 3, these groups review the recent investigations of carbon nanotube modified electrodes in electroanalysis, as well as reporting on fundamental advances in understanding the electrochemical reactivity of carbon nanotubes. In Chapters 4 and 5, Iwuoha and co-workers describe the works on nanostructuring of conducting polymers, focussing mainly on polypyrroles, polythiophenes and polyanilines, for electrochemical sensing. Boron-doped electrodes represent one of the most promising electrode materials in electroanalysis, yet rarely reported in the literature. In chapter 6, Chailapakul and co-workers highlight some important previous and more recent works in this area. Chapters 7 to 9 deal mainly with biomedical analysis. In chapter 7, Estrela and co-workers reviewed some of the interesting designs and applications of various field-effect potentiometric devices for bioanalysis. The authors contend that the application of thin film transistors technology to biosensors is highly promising since such technology is inherently low cost and yet capable of providing integrated circuits of a complexity comparable to conventional microchips. In chapter 8, Bala and co-workers reviewed some advances on screen-printing technology and the application of screen-printed electrodes for clinical and environmental analysis. Grazl, in Chapter 9, describes the recent advances in his group on the application of microelectrochemistry in biomedical analysis. The book is concluded (Chapter 10) by an original work by Baker and co-workers on the use of electrochemical impedance spectroscopy for the characterization and investigation of transition metal doped tin oxide thin film materials as potential catalysts for anodic oxidation of certain analytes, notably hydroquinones and phenols, in aqueous environment.
... [T]his book will be of valuable interests to electrochemists, analytical chemists, applied material scientists and scientific researchers in the environmental, biomedical and industrial fields. Research students in elelctroanalytical chemistry and their supervisors alike will find the book interesting, timely, and informative with over a thousand referenced recent articles.
