Polycaprolactone-enabled sealing and carbon composite electrode integration into electrochemical microfluidics

Area of Science:

• Materials Science
• Analytical Chemistry
• Electrochemistry

Background:

• Combining electrochemistry and microfluidics offers advantages like multiplexing, automation, and high sensitivity.
• Carbon electrodes are preferred for microfluidic applications due to fouling resistance and high activity.
• Current fabrication methods for microfluidic devices with integrated carbon electrodes present challenges.

Purpose of the Study:

• To present a new system for integrating polycaprolactone (PCL) and carbon composite electrodes into microfluidic devices.
• To demonstrate the electrochemical activity and conductivity of PCL:carbon composites.
• To showcase the utility of the fabricated devices for electrochemical analysis and synthesis.

Main Methods:

• Utilized laser cutting for rapid and straightforward fabrication of microfluidic devices.
• Integrated polycaprolactone (PCL) as a bonding layer for device construction.
• Developed PCL:carbon composite electrodes with high electrochemical activity and conductivity (∼1000 S m⁻¹).

Main Results:

• Successfully fabricated microfluidic devices with integrated PCL:carbon composite electrodes.
• Demonstrated excellent electrochemical activity of the composite electrodes towards various analytes.
• Successfully performed electrochemical analysis of oil-in-water and water-in-oil droplets.
• Showcased small-scale electrochemical organic synthesis, including TEMPO-mediated alcohol oxidation.

Conclusions:

• The presented system offers a facile and effective approach for fabricating microfluidic devices with integrated carbon electrodes.
• The PCL:carbon composite electrodes exhibit promising properties for diverse electrochemical applications.
• This work paves the way for advanced electrochemical microfluidic systems for analysis and synthesis.