Cosmetic Electrochemistry II: Rapid and Facile Production of Metallic Electrocatalytic Ensembles

We demonstrate a facile methodology for the production of metallic electrocatalytic microdomain ensembles for a range of analytical sensing challenges. A commercially available off-the-shelf cosmetic product can change the voltammetric characteristics of a metallic macro-electrode created electrolytically into that of a random ensemble of metallic microelectrode domains. Proof-of-concept is shown for three examples: a palladium ensemble for hydrazine sensing, a gold ensemble for arsenic(III) detection via anodic stripping voltammetry and platinum ensembles for the direct oxidation of arsenic(III). Last we demonstrate that the fabrication of metallic microdomains can be simplified by sputter coating screen printed electrochemical sensing platforms which are beneficially constructed using this cosmetic methodology. Given the facile fabrication and low cost of the underlying electrode substrate and the cosmetic modifier, the widespread implementation of this novel fabrication methodology is expected.