title: Thermally induced electrode protection against biofouling.
abstract: This paper demonstrates that a combined thermal and electrochemical conditioning step can greatly minimize electrode blocking. We detected 50 ppm dopamine after a blocking step in 1000 ppm gelatine solution. Only a treatment of the electrode at -1.5 V and 61.5 degrees C can reveal the voltammetric dopamine signals to 82%. The increase of the peak separation of the cyclic voltammograms obtained in 50 ppm dopamine is limited to 14%, whereas negative polarization (-1.5 V) alone leads to a 31% increase compared to 109% upon thermal and 105% without any conditioning. The positive effects can be addressed to an enforced reductive degradation and accelerated removal of the blocking agents. Also the formation of hydrogen bubbles might play a significant role. Thermo-electrochemical treatment holds great promise for electrochemical sensors and detectors which are applied for long-term monitoring of samples that contain blocking matrices.
authors.affiliation: Department of Chemistry, University of Rostock, Dr.-Lorenz-Weg 1, 18051 Rostock, Germany.
authors.forename: Heiko
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Duwensee
authors.forename: Terannie
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Vázquez-Alvarez
authors.forename: Gerd-Uwe
authors.initials: GU
authors.lastname: Flechsig
authors.forename: Joseph
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wang
mesh_terms: D004298:Dopamine; D004563:Electrochemistry; D004566:Electrodes / Q000592:standards*; D004866:Equipment Contamination / Q000517:prevention & control*; D006358:Hot Temperature
chemical_list: D004298:Dopamine