[en] Transparent C, Au and Pt films with thickness in the 5–10 nm range have been deposited by a DC magnetron sputtering system on commercial ITO (indium tin oxide) coated glass substrate for evaluation as electrode of spectro-electrochemical transducer. The transmission, over the investigated spectral range, is superior to 55% with the best transmission values obtained for C films (higher than 80%). The deposited films have been characterized by AFM, XPS and electrochemical methods. Results showed a low roughness, improved in comparison with uncoated electrodes. Electrochemical properties of the Au and Pt films evidenced a metallic behavior, which allowed qualifying them as conductive optically transparent electrodes for spectro-electrochemical devices.

[en] An electrochemical transducer based on vertically aligned carbon nanotubes (CNT) was prepared as a platform for biosensor development. Prior to enzyme immobilization, the CNT were treated using a microwave plasma system (CO₂ and N₂/H₂) in order to functionalize the CNT surface with oxygenated and aminated groups. The morphological aspect of the electrode surface was examined by SEM and its chemical structure was also elucidated by XPS analysis. It was found out that microwave plasma system (CO₂ and N₂/H₂) not only functionalizes the CNT but also permits to avoid the collapse phenomena retaining thus the alignment structure of the electrode surface. The electrochemical properties of the resulting new material based on CNT were carried out by cyclic voltammetry and were found suitable to develop high sensitive enzyme (HRP) biosensors operating on direct electron transfer process.

[en] Radiofrequency argon plasma was used for screen-printed carbon electrodes (SPCE) surface treatment. The cyclic voltammetry of ferri/ferrocyanide as redox couple showed a remarkable improvement of the electrochemical reactivity of the SPCE after the plasma treatment. The effect of the plasma growth conditions on the efficiency of the treatment procedure was evaluated in term of electrochemical reactivity of the SPCE surface. The electrochemical study showed that the electrochemical reactivity of the treated electrodes was strongly dependant on radiofrequency power, treatment time and argon gas pressure. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) analysis showed a considerable evolution on the surface chemistry of the treated electrodes. Our results clearly showed that the argon plasma treatment induces a significant increase in the C_sp2/C_sp3 ratio. The scanning electron micrograph (SEM) also showed a drastic change on the surface morphology of the treated SPCEs