Gold leaf: From gilding to the fabrication of disposable, wearable and low-cost electrodes.

Gold is among the most used materials in electrocatalysis. Despite this, this noble metal is still too expensive to be used in the fabrication of low cost and disposable devices. In the present work, gold-leaf sheets, usually employed in decorative crafts and wedding candies, is introduced as an inexpensive source of gold. Planar-disc and nanoband gold electrodes were simply and easily manufactured by combining gold leaf and polyimide tape. The planar disc electrode exhibited electrochemical behavior similar to that of a commercial gold electrode in 0.2molL-1 H2SO4; cyclic voltammetry of a 1mmolL-1 solution of potassium ferricyanide (K3[Fe(CN)6]) in 0.2molL-1 KNO3, using this novel electrode, displayed an 80mV difference between the oxidation and reduction peak potentials. The electrode also delivers promising prospects for the development of wearable devices. When submitted to severe mechanical deformation, this electrode exhibited neither loss of electrical contact nor significant variation in electrode response, even after fifteen bending and/or folding cycles. The thickness of the gold-leaf sheet facilitates the production of nanoband electrodes with behavior similar to that of ultramicroelectrodes. The electrode surface is easily renewed by cutting a thin slice off its end with a razor blade; this process led to limiting currents that were reproducible, presenting a relative standard deviation (RSD) of 3.8% (n = 5).

Determination of neutral diols and carboxylic acids formed during glycerol electrooxidation by capillary electrophoresis with dual C4D.

Methods for determination of glycerol and its electrooxidation products (neutral diols and carboxylates) by capillary electrophoresis (CE) with dual capacitively coupled contactless conductivity detectors (C4D) are presented. Glycerol, dihydroxyacetone and glyceraldehyde were detected as anionic borate complexes in less than 3min under counter Electroosmotic Flow (EOF) mode (resolution of the critical pair of 1.8). Limits of detection (LODs) of 15, 15 and 10µmolL-1 were obtained for glycerol, dihydroxyacetone and glyceraldehyde, respectively. Two methods of separation were used for the separation of carboxylates. The first one used the same Back Ground Electrolyte (BGE) containing borate, and the second used a BGE (pH 6.1) composed by 2-(N-morpholino)ethanesulfonic acid (MES), L-Histidine and a flow modifier. Better separation and LODs for carboxylates were obtained using Mes/Histidine as BGE. However, along with the non-applicability of this BGE to the determination of neutral diols, observation of the C4D signals at two different points of the capillary (10 and 50cm apart from the injection tip) revealed interaction of the flow modifier with some species (mesoxalate and glyoxylate). The electrooxidation of a glycerol sample in alkaline media on an 8cm2 gold working electrode was evaluated by the developed methods. After 16h of electrolysis, 87% of the glycerol had been oxidized and formate, glycolate, hydroxypyruvate and glycerate were detected as the main products.

Analysis of Methanol in the Presence of Ethanol, Using a Hybrid Capillary Electrophoresis Device with Electrochemical Derivatization and Conductivity Detection.

Concurrently with ethanol, many other compounds can be formed during the fermentation of grains and fruits. Among those, methanol is particularly important (because of its toxicity) and is typically formed at concentrations much lower than ethanol, presenting a particular challenge that demands the implementation of separation techniques. Aiming to provide an alternative to traditional chromatographic approaches, a hybrid electrophoresis device with electrochemical preprocessing and contactless conductivity detection (hybrid EC-CE-C4D) is herein described. The device was applied to perform the electro-oxidation of primary alcohols, followed by the separation and detection of the respective carboxylates. According to the presented results, the optimum conditions were obtained when the sample was diluted with 2 mmol L-1 HNO3 and then electro-oxidized by applying a potential of 1.4 V for 60 s. The oxidation products were then electrokinetically injected by applying a potential of 3 kV for 4 s and separated using a potential of 3 kV and a background running electrolyte (BGE) consisting of 10 mmol L-1 N-cyclohexyl-2-aminoethanesulfonic acid (CHES) and 5 mmol L-1 sodium hydroxide (NaOH). n-Propanol was used as an internal standard and the three carboxylate peaks were resolved with baseline separation within <3 min, defining linear calibration curves in the range of 0.10-5.0 mmol L-1. Limits of detection (LODs) of 20, 40, and 50 µmol L-1 were obtained for ethanol, n-propanol, and methanol, respectively. To demonstrate the applicability of the proposed strategy, a laboratory-made sample (moonshine) was used. Aliquots collected along the beginning of the fractional distillation presented a decreasing methanol ratio (from 4% to <0.5%) and a growing ethanol ratio (from 80% to 100%) in the collected volume.

Electrochemical derivatization-capillary electrophoresis-contactless conductivity detection: a versatile strategy for simultaneous determination of cationic, anionic, and neutral analytes.

The simultaneous determination of cationic, anionic, and neutral analytes in a real sample was demonstrated by coupling electrochemical (EC) derivatization with counter-EOF CE-C(4) D. An EC flow cell was used to oxidize alcohols from an antiseptic mouthwash sample into carboxylic acids at a platinum electrode in acid medium. The carboxylates formed in the derivatization process and other sample ingredients, such as benzoate, saccharinate, and sodium ions, were separated in counter-flow mode and detected in one run in Tris-HCl buffer, pH 8.6. Fewer than 5 min were needed to complete each analysis with the automated flow system comprising solenoid pumps for the management of solutions. Insights into the electrochemistry of benzoic acid, present in the sample matrix, were also gained by EC-CE-C(4) D; more specifically, by applying potentials higher than 1.47 V to the platinum electrode, some formiate and minute amounts of salicylate were detected.

From sample processing to quantification: a full electrochemical approach for neutral analyte derivatization, capillary electrophoresis separation, and contactless conductivity detection.

A thin-layer electrochemical flow cell coupled to capillary electrophoresis with contactless conductivity detection (EC-CE-C(4)D) was applied for the first time to the derivatization and quantification of neutral species using aliphatic alcohols as model compounds. The simultaneous electrooxidation of four alcohols (ethanol, 1-propanol, 1-butanol, and 1-pentanol) to the corresponding carboxylates was carried out on a platinum working electrode in acid medium. The derivatization step required 1 min at 1.6 V vs. Ag/AgCl under stopped flow conditions, which was preceded by a 10 s activation at 0 V. The solution close to the electrode surface was then hydrodynamically injected into the capillary, and a 2.5 min electrophoretic separation was carried out. The fully automated flow system operated at a frequency of 12 analyses per hour. Simultaneous determination of the four alcohols presented detection limits of about 5 × 10(-5) mol L(-1). As a practical application with a complex matrix, ethanol concentrations were determined in diluted pale lager beer and in nonalcoholic beer. No statistically significant difference was observed between the EC-CE-C(4)D and gas chromatography with flame ionization detection (GC-FID) results for these samples. The derivatization efficiency remained constant over several hours of continuous operation with lager beer samples (n = 40).