On reproducibility of preparation of basal plane pyrolytic graphite electrode surface

The basal plane pyrolytic graphite (BPPG) electrode is widely used as a “standard” electrode for studies of electrochemical activity of graphite, graphene and carbon nanotubes. We compared here different methods for preparation of the surface of BPPG using statistical analysis of the data. We showed that including/omitting of polishing step or including/omitting of acetone washing step in the preparation procedure exhibits statistically significant difference. However, using acetone of different purities does not lead into statistically significant results. In addition, all methods with BPPG provided RSD < 10% and did not produce any outlying results.

► Various methods for preparation of basal plane pyrolytic graphite electrode are investigated by statistical analysis.
► Methods consisted of 1) polishing, 2) tape cleavage, 3) removing of residual tape by acetone.
► There is no statistical difference on electrode performance if acetone of various qualities (from technical to HPLC grade) is used.
► There is statistical difference if the polishing step and tape cleavage step are included/removed from the procedure.
► In all cases, the RSD of peak-to-peak separation was less than 10% with no outlying results.