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Carbon‐Nanotube–Alginate Composite Modified Electrode Fabricated by In Situ Gelation for Capillary Electrophoresis
Author(s) -
Wei Bangguo,
Wang Joseph,
Chen Zhi,
Chen Gang
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
chemistry – a european journal
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.687
H-Index - 242
eISSN - 1521-3765
pISSN - 0947-6539
DOI - 10.1002/chem.200801124
Subject(s) - carbon nanotube , electrode , materials science , composite number , capillary electrophoresis , chemical engineering , amperometry , working electrode , capillary action , fourier transform infrared spectroscopy , nanotechnology , composite material , electrochemistry , chemistry , chromatography , engineering
This report describes the development and the application of a novel carbon‐nanotube (CNT)–alginate composite modified electrode as a sensitive amperometric detector for capillary electrophoresis (CE). The composite electrode was fabricated on the basis of in situ gelation of a mixture of CNTs and sodium alginate on the surface of a carbon disc electrode in aqueous calcium chloride solution. SEM, energy‐dispersive spectroscopy, XRD, and FTIR spectroscopy offered insights into the nature of the novel composite. The results indicated that the CNTs were well dispersed and embedded throughout the alginate matrix to form an interconnected carbon‐nanotube network on the base electrode. The performance of this unique CNT‐based detector has been demonstrated, in conjunction with CE, by separating and detecting five caffeic acid derivatives. The new CNT‐based CE detector offered significantly lower operating potentials, substantially enhanced signal‐to‐noise characteristics, and a lower expense of operation. The simplicity and significant performance exhibited by the CNT–alginate composite modified electrode also indicate great promise for the use of this electrode in microchip CE, flowing‐injection analysis, and other microfluidic analysis systems.