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Electrothermal annealing of catalytic platinum microwire electrodes: towards membrane-free pH 7 glucose micro-fuel cells.

Weber, J*; Wain, A J; Attard, G A*; Marken, F* (2017) Electrothermal annealing of catalytic platinum microwire electrodes: towards membrane-free pH 7 glucose micro-fuel cells. Electroanalysis, 29 (1). pp. 38-44.

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Abstract

Surface activation and cleaning of platinum micro-wires of 25 micron diameter has been achieved by a short one-second electrothermal annealing treatment in air at 0.3 A (to orange glow). Voltammetric data suggest a decrease in the electrochemically active surface area with annealing time and a change in surface structure towards the Pt(100) crystalline face. The impact of electrothermal annealing on the electrocatalytic activity towards (i) oxygen reduction and (ii) glucose oxidation in pH 7 phosphate buffered aqueous solutions is investigated. In contrast to as-received platinum, annealed platinum produces an electrocatalytic response towards glucose oxidation with increasing glucose concentration. A short one-second anneal step is just as effective in enhancing catalysis as prolonged electrochemical cleaning in sulphuric acid. Finally, by combining a non-annealed and an annealed microwire electrode, a very simple membrane-free micro-fuel cell system is devised operating in phosphate buffer at pH 7 with linearly increasing power output reaching 2.2 nW cm-2 for high glucose levels of 0.5 M.

Item Type: Article
Subjects: Advanced Materials
Advanced Materials > Electrochemistry
Divisions: Engineering, Materials & Electrical Science
Identification number/DOI: 10.1002/elan.201600443
Last Modified: 02 Feb 2018 13:13
URI: http://eprintspublications.npl.co.uk/id/eprint/7433

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