Polycrystalline boron-doped diamond (pBDD) has acquired great interest as a electrode material exhibiting low background currents, wide potential windows and a host of extreme physical properties such as mechanical hardness, chemical inertness and a high resistance to harsh environments. pBDD’s exceptional electrochemical characteristics have made its application as a material for high performance electrochemical sensors the basis of a hugh amount of research over the last decade. Work in this thesis describes the fabrication and application of pBDD sensors in both stationary and fluid flow environments where conventional electrode materials would be unsuitable or problematic. pBDD electrodes functionalised with catalytic metal nano-particles are demonstrated as a means of detecting hydrazine, a genotoxic impurity of interest in pharmaceutical analysis, even in the presence of potentially interfering pharmaceutical matrix. This same sensor is then employed as a means of detecting the presence of non-polar oils on an electrode surface in dual-phase, aqueous/oil systems. An investigation of electrochemical techniques for detecting and characterising phase changes in the form of microdroplets moving under flow in microfluidic systems is detailed. Limitations to the use of conventional materials used to fabricate such microfluidic devices are discussed. In an effort to address these issues as well as those expected in extreme environments, with aggressive media, a fabrication route for realising all-diamond microfluidic devices with integrated, high-quality pBDD electrodes is outlined.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:bl.uk/oai:ethos.bl.uk:647956 |
| Date | January 2014 |
| Creators | Newland, Jonathan C. |
| Publisher | University of Warwick |
| Source Sets | Ethos UK |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Electronic Thesis or Dissertation |
| Source | http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/67483/ |
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