Coupling of Independent Electrochemical Reactions and Fluorescence at Closed Bipolar Interdigitated Electrode Arrays

Abstract

Electrochemical reactions occurring at the opposite ends of bipolar electrodes (BPEs) are necessarily coupled, enabling electron transfer events at one end to be read out optically, for example, by coupling to fluorogenic reactions at the other end. To explore the potential of this technique for studying multiple redox events, arrays of parallel BPE interdigitated electrode arrays (IDEAs) were fabricated and integrated with separate analytical and reporter microfluidic channels, respectively, in a closed BPE configuration. The apparatus was initially evaluated employing Fe(CN)63/4− in the analytical channel coupled to weakly emissive resazurin and strongly emissive resorufin as the fluorogenic redox reporter pair. The device was then used to investigate a proton‐coupled electron transfer reaction, hydroquinone (QH2) oxidation, in structures with an integrated pH modulation electrode (PME). A pH‐sensitive dye, fluorescein, was co‐introduced into the analytical channel to monitor PME modulation of solution pH, and its coupling to QH2 oxidation, thereby permitting changes in solution pH, and consequently QH2 oxidation rate, to be monitored directly in the analytical channel and compared to the fluorescence in the reporter channel. In addition, diffusion of OH− generated at the PME produced a spatial pH profile that was visualized via fluorescein emission, and, because the oxidation of QH2 at each BPE is strongly dependent on the local pH, via the coupled fluorogenic reaction at the opposite pole of the corresponding BPE digit in the reporter channel. Thus, BPE IDEAs support the coupling of independent redox reactions and the use of fluorescence imaging to explore a diverse set of spatially varying electrochemical phenomena realized in a variety of electrochemical geometries.

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