Hello all,
I've been trying for a while now to crosslink dopamine to chitosan using various means, more recently I have been using glutaraldehyde.
My electrode is made in house using an ink from Gwent. It seems that once printed the ink is very susceptible to attack from a variety of solvents, such as acetone, toluene, etc. I've mainly used alcohols (solvent cast) and electropolymerisation/deposit to layer my electrodes.
I've been trying to link the two amine groups of the chitosan and dopamine but have been having issues. This most recent one affects the structural stability of the working area of the electrode.
Protocol:
Now the next step would be to incubate in a poly dopamine solution pH 9.0 at 37 degrees centigrade for 3 hours but the electrodes seem to 'crack', and lift from the substrate surface in some cases, almost slightly desiccated?
Can anyone point out the error in my protocol or offer some useful advice?
I have previously tried electrodepositing chitosan to the electrode, which resulted in uneven coating due to bubbling at the surface.
Regards,
Craig
Dear Craig,
If your research has scientific value and intended to be published, it is better for you to discuss it within the research team you work with, because a lot of details needs to be disclosed for the right answer.
Cracking and peeling off the electrode can depend on ink composition, solvent used for rinsing, electrode material, electrode surface properties, steering type, and experimental details you may count as "default" and not important.
If not to go much into details:
- cracking means you have change of conformation of polymer film after rinsing and drying. Do you really need drying? I would try all way through using the same solvent and keep polymer wet (including storing in an exicator with solvent-vapor saturated medium) .
- your film is adsorbed on an electrode (I guess). So, electrode should have the same surface nature (hydrophilic, I think), as your polymer. If you use GC or other type of carbon, I would plasma-clean it in oxygen plasma for a few minutes, so you end up with various oxygen-containing groups on the surface. Also, make it rough with a 1000-grit sandpaper. If it is metal, I would go to Pt, not Au (I would expect better adherence), and also make it rough.
Good luck,
Ievgen
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