Excimer laser-induced electrochemical activity in carbon ink films

The effects on the microscopic and electrochemical properties of composite ink films after exposure to UV radiation from a 193 nm excimer laser source were investigated. The work considered two carbon ink types, a commercial screen ink material and a preparation consisting of micro-spherical glassy carbon with polystyrene. A scanning electron microscopy study of these ink film surfaces has concluded that laser treatments selectively etch the organic binding polymer from the composite surface thereby exposing sub-layers of carbon particulates. The photoablative processes by which the UV radiation interacts with materials not only remove the ink polymer, thereby increasing the surface area, but also chemically modify the carbon surface resulting in an increased rate of electron transfer. The cyclic voltammetric characteristics of potassium hexacyanoferrate(III) and ferrocene carboxylic acid at these modified ink films are analysed using the methodology proposed by Amatore et al. (J. Electroanal. Chem, 147 (1983) 39).