Yao Xiao, Wu Huixia, Wang Joseph, Qu Song, Chen Gang
Department of Chemistry, Fudan University, Shanghai 200433, China.
Chemistry. 2007;13(3):846-53. doi: 10.1002/chem.200600469.
We describe the development and application of a novel carbon nanotube/poly(methyl methacrylate) (CNT/PMMA) composite electrode as a sensitive amperometric detector of microchip capillary electrophoresis (CE). The composite electrode was fabricated by the in situ polymerization of a mixture of CNTs and prepolymerized methyl methacrylate in the microchannel of a piece of fused silica capillary under heat. The performance of this unique system was demonstrated by the separation and detection of phenolic pollutants and purines. The new CNT-based CE detector offered significantly lower operating potentials, yielded substantially enhanced signal-to-noise characteristics, and exhibited resistance to surface fouling and, hence, enhanced stability. Long-term stability and reproducibility with relative standard deviations of less than 5 % for the peak current (n=20) were also demonstrated. The simplicity and significant performance exhibited by the CNT/PMMA composite electrode indicate great promise for conventional CE, flowing-injection analysis, and other microfluidic analysis systems.
我们描述了一种新型碳纳米管/聚甲基丙烯酸甲酯（CNT/PMMA）复合电极的开发及应用，该电极作为微芯片毛细管电泳（CE）的灵敏安培检测器。复合电极是通过在加热条件下，使碳纳米管与预聚合的甲基丙烯酸甲酯的混合物在一段熔融石英毛细管的微通道中原位聚合制备而成。通过对酚类污染物和嘌呤的分离与检测，证明了该独特系统的性能。新型基于碳纳米管的CE检测器具有显著更低的工作电位，产生了大幅增强的信噪比特性，并且表现出抗表面污染能力，因此稳定性增强。还证明了其具有长期稳定性和重现性，峰电流的相对标准偏差小于5%（n=20）。CNT/PMMA复合电极展现出的简单性和显著性能表明其在传统CE、流动注射分析及其他微流控分析系统中具有巨大潜力。
