Antifouling characteristics of a carbon electrode surface hydrogenated by n-butylsilane reduction

In this work, we have achieved an sp³ carbon-enriched, antifouling hydrophobic electrode surface using a one-pot n-butylsilane reduction method. The carbon surface was initially obtained by pyrolysis of C₂H₂ on a quartz substrate. Using Raman spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy, we have shown that CO functionalities present on the carbon surface were converted to their respective CH analogues under a relatively mild laboratory condition. In addition, electrochemical impedance spectroscopic results also indicated the deposit of bulky butylsiloxane dendrimers on the hydrogenated carbon surface. The effect of n-butylsilane reduction on electron transfer kinetics of carbon was also examined by cyclic voltammetry of surface insensitive [Ru(NH₃)₆]³⁺ and surface sensitive [Fe(CN)₆]^3-. In our work, n-butylsilane reduction was found to yield a relatively flat and smooth surface. The physical morphology of both hydrogenated and non-hydrogenated carbon surface was compared using atomic force microscopy. The antifouling property of the modified carbon surface was then evaluated by electrochemical impedance spectroscopy of 1.0  mM [Ru(NH₃)₆]³⁺ in a synthetic fouling solution containing 4% (w/v) bovine serum album, 0.01% (w/v) cytochrome C (both are proteins), 1.0% (v/v) caproic acid (a lipid), and 0.002% (w/v) human fibrinopeptide B (a peptide).