Screen-Printed Carbon Electrodes with Porous Copper Film

Porous copper films were formed on the surface of screen-printed carbon electrodes via colloidal crystal template technique. The template made of self-assembled monodisperse polystyrene spheres of 200 nm or 500 nm diameters was coated by the copper using galvanostatical deposition from a plating solution. The porous structure was revealed after dissolution of spheres in toluene. The morphology of the final deposit was ascertained with the aid of SEM. Analytical performance of prepared porous electrodes was tested in hydrodynamic amperometry of glucose and other saccharides in alkaline solution and compared to that of screen-printed carbon electrodes with ex situ copper film. Increased current responses were observed at porous electrodes due to the enlarged surface area.