DETERMINATION OF SULFUR-CONTAINING COMPOUNDS BY CARBON BASED ELECTRODE INCORPORATED WITH OXIDES

Anodized aluminum oxide (AAO) has received increasing attention due to its potential in energy storage and corrosion prevention. In this work we incorporated AAO into carbon transducers for sensory application. Voltammetry was utilized to characterize the composite of carbon powders mixed with AAO, and variety of molecules of biosignificance were tested for their analytical assays. We found that sulfur-containing organic compounds displayed well-defined voltammetric response on these electrodes. On the other hand, these compounds would only show sluggish surface reaction on conventional carbon electrode. A systematic study on metal oxides revealed AAO as the most adaptable oxide for the sensory exploration, which is probably due to is relatively low dielectric property. Existence of some transition metal ions in the homogeneous media can promote the surface reaction of sulfur-containing compounds. Coupling with different electrode treatment, our proposed protocol sheds promise as a new quantitation method for these sulfur-containing molecules. The mechanistic study of these responses are currently underway. This work was supported by NASA-TSGC-NIP, SACP-UARP, UHD-ORC, Brown Foundation, and Welch Grant ( BJ-0027 ).