Dual-electrode measurements in a meniscus microcapillary electrochemical cell using a high aspect ratio carbon fibre ultramicroelectrode

• Simple method for generation/collection voltammetric measurements.
• Redox competition mode measurements.
• Meniscus-based electrochemical cell for complex electrode materials.
• Electrochemical mechanism measurements at carbon nanotube forests and networks.
• Insights into oxygen reduction reaction at carbon electrodes.

The meniscus-based microcapillary electrochemical method (MCEM) allows electrochemical measurements to be made quickly and easily at a wide range of materials, simply by connecting up the sample of interest as a working electrode and bringing a capillary containing an electrolyte solution and quasi-reference/counter electrode into meniscus contact. In this work, microcapillary-based electrochemical methodology is advanced by introducing a very high aspect ratio carbon fibre ultramicroelectrode (CF-UME) allowing generation/collection and shielding (redox competition) measurements to be made. The experimental concept is demonstrated with the outer sphere (ferrocenylmethyl) trimethylammonium ion (FcTMA+/2+) redox mediator on a single walled carbon nanotube (SWNT) network. It is then used to investigate electrochemical reactions on a complex electrode, i.e. a SWNT forest, which is not easily investigated using traditional techniques that would require the electrode material to be physically encapsulated. The technique is most powerful when used to probe the different mechanistic pathways of the oxygen reduction reaction (ORR). This aspect is illustrated through studies on platinum, glassy carbon and SWNT forest electrodes. By platinising the CF-UME, the electrode can be used as a local sensor for the intermediate H2O2 and the O2 reactant, and it is possible to track the evolving consumption of these species near the working electrode during voltammetric measurements.

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