Fabrication of a polishable and reusable triple electrode as a new generation of three-electrode systems for the electrochemical analysis applications through both immersion and drop casting-procedures

Abstract

An innovative three-electrode system was developed for electrochemical analysis, aiming to overcome the limitations of conventional approaches. The system incorporates a glassy carbon rod as the working electrode, platinum wire as the counter electrode, and silver wire as the quasi-reference electrode that are positioned within an epoxy resin substrate. The advantages of this type of three-electrode system include the possibility of sample analysis in both drop mode and when immersed in the solution, low manufacturing cost, reduction of chemical consumption, no need for special maintenance protocols, no requirement for stand, absence of liquid junction potential (due to the direct contact of the reference electrode with the solution), usability for on-site analysis, and usability for non-aqueous solutions.

To check the efficiency of this electrode, cyclic voltammetry technique was used. Also, for direct comparison of PTE with conventional three-electrode system and screen-printed electrode (SPE), current density was used instead of peak current. According to the results, PTE system shows more peak current for the same surface area of the working electrode compared to other systems, which shows the high efficiency of the proposed system for electrochemical analysis. Acetaminophen (ACT) was chosen in order to investigate the ability to measure an analyte with PTE using differential pulse voltammetry (DPV). The linear range was obtained from 29.12 μM to 609.37 μM with a detection limit (LOD) 20.22 μM. Also, PTE was used to measure ACT in tablet as real sample.