Simple immobilization of pyrroloquinoline quinone on few-walled carbon nanotubes

Pyrroloquinoline quinone (PQQ) was immobilized on glassy-carbon electrodes (GCE) modified with single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT), few-walled carbon nanotubes (FWCNT) and carbon black (Vulcan XC72R). Modified electrodes were prepared by drop-casting. Immobilization was achieved with an extremely simple dipping procedure and without any further modification to the electrodes. Electrochemical performance of the electrodes was studied by cyclic voltammetry and spectroelectrochemistry. FWCNT adsorbed 30 times more PQQ than the other carbon materials. Compared to more complicated immobilization methods, PQQ/FWCNT/GCE showed well-defined electrochemistry in a considerably wide pH area from 2 to 12. The dipping process is affected by pH and electrostatic forces. At dipping pH 9.5, where both FWCNTs and PQQ have strong negative charge, the adsorption was halved compared to dipping pH 2, where the charges are smaller.