Galvanotaxis is the movement of cells in an applied electric field. The first steps to design a chip for observations of galvanotaxic behavior of cells were done in this work. The chip is a miniaturised system of previous larger galvanotaxis systems and uses materials which are thought to be biocompatible. The system was constructed on microscope slides with a channel in PDMS with adjacent polymer electrodes. The polymer electrodes were made from poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) poly(styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS), glycerol and Silquest A-187. The PEDOT:PSS electrodes were connected with either an evaporated metal electrode of titanium and gold or a gold net. Systems with PEDOT:PSS are neutralised when put in excessive amount of PBS (pH=7.4) for 24 hours. The final system had a channel with dimension length=14 mm, width=0.5 mm and height=0.25 mm. PEDOT:PSS worked as an electrode material and the achieved electric field through the channel was between 55 V/m and 160 V/m with an applied voltage of 1 V. The decrease of the electric field within the first hour was between 10 % and 30%.  Further development of this system could give an easy way to observe galvanotaxic behaviour of cells or an instrument that can distinguish between different cell types.

In this research various techniques were used to study surface groups on carbon electrodes, including the spectroscopic techniques UV-Vis-NIR, FTIR, PAS, XPS and XAS, as well as the Boehm titration. The methods determined to give the best insight to the surface functionalities on the carbon were XPS, XAS and the Boehm titration. The Boehm titration methodology was standardized before use. An in situ method of examining surface groups using spectroscopy during electrochemistry was attempted. Spectroelectrochemistry is a useful way to gain information on how electrochemistry affects electrodes during experimentation; however, it was unsuccessful for the carbon used and remains to be developed. Polymerization of the copolymer of PANI and PPy as a potential electrode material for ECs was achieved by electrochemical cycling and was studied through spectroelectrochemical measurements. Overall, the research completed included the initial stages to studying electrodes for electrochemical capacitors using analytical, non-electrochemistry techniques in conjunction with electrochemistry.