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Solution conductivity sensors (electrodes) are widely used in industrial and research settings to make measurements across the wide range of conductivities found in aqueous solutions, from distilled water to concentrated salts and acids. However, changes in electrode geometry as a result of mechanical wear, surface fouling or chemical attack result in changes to sensor performance, necessitating regular recalibration. Furthermore, direct contact with solution means exposed electrodes are susceptible to surface fouling or corrosion. In this paper we describe, a corrosion resistant, mechanically robust conductivity sensor fabricated from synthetically grown insulating and conducting diamond, using scalable chemical vapor deposition. In particular, using a two-step growth procedure pairs of co-planar conducting diamond band electrodes are integrated into an insulating diamond platform in a two point probe arrangement on a 10 mm × 10 mm diamond platform. The all-diamond sensor is demonstrated to be capable of determining solution conductivity over six orders of magnitude (10⁻¹ to 10⁵ μS cm⁻¹). Longer term continuous measurements (two month period) show this sensor performs just as well as a commercially available sensor (four point probe arrangement). The exceptional chemical resistance of diamond is demonstrated by using the sensor to measure the conductivity of 98% sulfuric acid. In general, these measurements bode well for the development and application of synthetic all-diamond conductivity sensors over extended periods of time, in-situ and in challenging pH environments. Finally, the use of diamond also opens up high pressure/high temperature solution conductivity applications for this sensor.

We demonstrate low-voltage electrowetting at the surface of freshly cleaved highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG). Using cyclic voltammetry (CV), electrowetting of a droplet of a sodium perchlorate solution is observed at moderately positive potentials on high-quality (low step edge coverage) HOPG, leading to significant changes in the contact angle and relative contact diameter that are comparable to the results of the widely studied electrowetting on dielectric (EWOD) system, but over a much lower voltage range. The electrowetting behavior is found to be reasonably fast, reversible, and repeatable for at least 20 cyclic scans (maximum tested). In contrast to classical electrowetting, e.g., EWOD, the electrowetting of the droplet on HOPG occurs with the intercalation/deintercalation of anions between the graphene layers of graphite, driven by the applied potential, observed in the CV response, and detected by X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy. The electrowetting behavior is strongly influenced by those factors that affect the extent of the intercalation/deintercalation of ions on graphite, such as potential range scan rate, potential polarity, quality of the HOPG substrate (step edge density and step height), and type of anion in the solution. In addition to perchlorate, sulfate salts also promote electrowetting, but some other salts do not. Our findings suggest a new mechanism for electrowetting based on ion intercalation, and the results are important to fundamental electrochemistry as well as to diversifying the means by which electrowetting can be controlled and applied.

Conspectus

Carbon materials have a long history of use as electrodes in electrochemistry, from (bio)electroanalysis to applications in energy technologies, such as batteries and fuel cells. With the advent of new forms of nanocarbon, particularly, carbon nanotubes and graphene, carbon electrode materials have taken on even greater significance for electrochemical studies, both in their own right and as components and supports in an array of functional composites.

With the increasing prominence of carbon nanomaterials in electrochemistry comes a need to critically evaluate the experimental framework from which a microscopic understanding of electrochemical processes is best developed. This Account advocates the use of emerging electrochemical imaging techniques and confined electrochemical cell formats that have considerable potential to reveal major new perspectives on the intrinsic electrochemical activity of carbon materials, with unprecedented detail and spatial resolution. These techniques allow particular features on a surface to be targeted and models of structure–activity to be developed and tested on a wide range of length scales and time scales.

When high resolution electrochemical imaging data are combined with information from other microscopy and spectroscopy techniques applied to the same area of an electrode surface, in a correlative-electrochemical microscopy approach, highly resolved and unambiguous pictures of electrode activity are revealed that provide new views of the electrochemical properties of carbon materials. With a focus on major sp² carbon materials, graphite, graphene, and single walled carbon nanotubes (SWNTs), this Account summarizes recent advances that have changed understanding of interfacial electrochemistry at carbon electrodes including: (i) Unequivocal evidence for the high activity of the basal surface of highly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG), which is at least as active as noble metal electrodes (e.g., platinum) for outer-sphere redox processes. (ii) Demonstration of the high activity of basal plane HOPG toward other reactions, with no requirement for catalysis by step edges or defects, as exemplified by studies of proton-coupled electron transfer, redox transformations of adsorbed molecules, surface functionalization via diazonium electrochemistry, and metal electrodeposition. (iii) Rationalization of the complex interplay of different factors that determine electrochemistry at graphene, including the source (mechanical exfoliation from graphite vs chemical vapor deposition), number of graphene layers, edges, electronic structure, redox couple, and electrode history effects. (iv) New methodologies that allow nanoscale electrochemistry of 1D materials (SWNTs) to be related to their electronic characteristics (metallic vs semiconductor SWNTs), size, and quality, with high resolution imaging revealing the high activity of SWNT sidewalls and the importance of defects for some electrocatalytic reactions (e.g., the oxygen reduction reaction). The experimental approaches highlighted for carbon electrodes are generally applicable to other electrode materials and set a new framework and course for the study of electrochemical and interfacial processes.