The effect of water ingress on additively manufactured electrodes

Abstract

Polymer Additive Manufacturing (AM), otherwise known as 3D printing, is becoming increasingly popular in the field of electrochemistry since it allows affordable, on-demand production of bespoke devices. Provided a suitably...

Circular Economy Electrochemistry: Recycling Old Mixed Material Additively Manufactured Sensors into New Electroanalytical Sensing Platforms

“…Additionally, the rAME shows an increased electrochemical surface area of 0.081 ± 0.001 cm 2 compared to 0.075 ± 0.001 and 0.074 ± 0.002 cm 2 . This increase in electrochemical area is in agreement with the XPS and SEM data obtained earlier, whereby an increased amount of graphitic carbon was seen on the surface of non-activated rAMEs compared to standard commercial ones, as seen in other studies. , This data shows that the recycled conductive filament gives excellent electrochemical performance compared to the commercial equivalent.…”

“…In particular, polymer composites filled with a conductive filler (commonly carbon black or graphene) are becoming increasingly popular with electrochemists for the production of cheap equipment, electrochemical cells, , and inventively designed electrodes. ,− However, the requirement for cleanliness to achieve repeatable measurements, especially with regard to the fouling of working electrodes, means that the AM devices used in electrochemistry are often discarded after one use. Simply put, since the typical polymer cells and electrodes made by the AM cost on the order of a few British pence and are known to be affected by cleaning solvents which can dissolve or be absorbed by the polymer material, in the short term it is generally easier and more economical to dispose of them. This is not a sustainable practice, and with sustainability becoming an increasingly important theme in scientific research in general, and electrochemistry specifically, more work is clearly needed to enable AM in electrochemistry to conform to CE ideals.…”

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“…This suggests that before activation the surface of the electrode is predominantly PLA with the CB particles below the depths probed by XPS (i.e., a few nm). 43 In contrast, the C 1s spectrum for the activated electrode, Figure 1D, exhibits an additional asymmetric peak at 284.5 eV which is consistent with the X-ray photoelectron emission by graphitic carbon. 50,51 An additional high-binding energy peak at 290.8 eV is observed for adequate fitting of the activated sample, which arises from π−π* transitions within the graphitic carbon.…”

“…41,42 There are significant issues still to address within AM electrochemistry, such as the need to "activate" the surface of the electrode to reveal conductive materials, 34 surface fouling (as seen with conventional commercial electrodes), and the ingress of solutions into the plastic. 43 These issues have led to the majority of AM electrodes (AMEs) being single-use items. This makes the printing of electrodes from filament produced through virgin plastic highly unsustainable.…”

Electroanalytical Overview: The Determination of Levodopa (L-DOPA)

“…It should be noted that to produce the best AM electrochemical platforms, the connection length of AMEs should be kept to as short a distance as possible. 72 Currently, these AMEs must be used as single-shot electrodes, similar to SPEs, because of solution ingress into the electrodes, 73 among other issues. However, due to the flexibility, low-cost, and rapid prototyping capabilities of AM (in addition to the recent reports of the use of recycled conductive feedstocks 74 ), we expect many further reports in this field over the coming years.…”