Development of screen-printed carbon electrodes, chemically modified with cobalt phthalocyanine, for electrochemical sensor applications

Abstract A method is described for the production of screen-printed graphite electrodes and also for similar electrodes chemically modified with the electrocatalyst cobalt phthalocyanine. Using cyclic voltammetry, the electrochemical behaviour of these electrodes towards ascorbic acid, reduced glutatione and coenzyme A (CoA-SH) was investigated. The modified electrodes were found to give significant decreases in the over-potential required for the oxidation of these species at carbon electrodes. The useful electrochemical window for the unmodified carbon film electrodes was −1.08 V to +0.85 V vs. SCE, using 1 μA background current cut-off points. Amperometry in stirred solutions was used to investigate the hydrodynamic behaviour of the electrodes and their calibration performance. The limits of detection for ascorbic acid and reduced glutathione at the modified films were 5 × 10−8 and 1 × 10−7 M, respectively. The calibration graphs were also linear up to 2 mM concentrations of both analytes. Using differential-pulse voltammetry, linear calibration graphs were obtained for both species up to 2.5 mM. This technique was also used to assess the reproducibility of the electrode manufacture; the coefficient of variation was 2.8% for 1.49 mM ascorbic acid and 6.9% for 0.92 mM reduced glutathione.