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Enzymatic cascades are routinely used for electroanalysis of redox inactive species that can be enzymatically converted into species electroactive at moderate potentials, such as H2O2 produced by FAD‐dependent oxidases oxidising their substrates by O2. However, such cascades adaptation to micro‐biosensors is limited by enhanced mass‐transfer of produced H2O2 into solution, not to the sensing layer. Here, bi‐enzyme sensors for glucose or glutamate, produced by cross‐linking peroxidase and oxidases on carbon‐nanotube‐modified graphite macro‐electrodes (Gr), showed the from 0.1 to 10 mM glucose/glutamate linear response, while bio‐modified 5 μm carbon fibre electrodes (CFE) were mute due to fast transfer of enzymatically produced H2O2 into solution. By replacing peroxidase with peroxidase‐mimicking hemin in polyethyleneimine, the sensitivity of detection at Gr improved 3‐fold, enabling 2.8 μM glucose and 4.5 μM glutamate limits of detection, but not at CFE. Fast mass‐transfer of H2O2 from CFE to solution was restricted by the Nafion membrane facilitating glucose detection at CFE with a sensitivity of 1.67 A cm−2 M−1, at −0.6 V, escaping interference from other brain‐fluid components, redox‐inactive at this potential. Such membrane‐restricted cascade system provides the analytical access to a large group of enzymes that can be integrated in multiple enzymatic cascades for biosensing at microelectrodes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A steady-state analysis of the nonmediated bioelectrocatalyst activity of adsorbed horseradish peroxidase (HRP) is presented as a function of substrate concentration, electrode potential and solution pH. The variations in the kinetic parameters with solution pH have provided some indication of the nature and location of the acid/base groups that control the electronic exchange between enzyme and electrode.

A new technique suitable for automated, large-scale fabrication of enzyme electrodes by air-spraying enzymes in organic inks is presented. Model oxidoreductases, tyrosinase (Tyr) and glucose oxidase (GOx), were adapted to octane-based ink by entrapment in a system of reverse micelles (RM) of surfactant AOT in octane to separate and stabilize the catalytically active forms of the enzymes in nonpolar organic media. Nonpolar caoutchouk polymer was also used to create a kind of 'dry micelles' at the electrode/solution interface. Enzyme/RM/polymer-containing organic inks were air-brushed onto conductive supports and were subsequently covered by sprayed Nation membranes. The air-brushed enzyme electrodes exhibited relevant bioelectrocatalytic activity toward catechol and glucose, with a linear detection range of 0.1-100 [micro]M catechol and 0.5-7 mM glucose; the sensitivities were 2.41 A [M.sup.-1] [cm.sup.-2] and 2.98 mA [M.sup.-1] [cm.sup.-2] for Tyr and GOx electrodes, respectively. The proposed technique of air-brushing enzymes in organic inks enables automated construction of disposable enzyme electrodes of various designs on a mass-production scale.

Direct heterogeneous electron transfer (ET) of sulfite oxidase (SOx), a heme- and molybdopterin cofactor-containing intermembrane enzyme, was studied on alkanethiol-modified Au electrodes both with SOx entrapped between the modified Au electrode and a perm-selective membrane and with SOx adsorbed at the electrode surface, in the absence of any membrane. SOx in direct electronic communication with the electrode surface gave a quasi-reversible electrochemical signal with a midpoint potential of -120 mV vs Ag|AgCl corresponding to the redox transformations of the heme domain of SOx and with a heterogeneous ET constant in the order of 15 [s.sup.-1]. The efficiency of the bioelectrocatalytic 2[e.sup.-] oxidation of sulfite catalyzed by SOx in direct ET exchange with the electrode was shown to depend essentially on the nature of the alkanethiol layer. Adsorption and orientation of SOx on an 11-mercapto-1-undecanol (MuD-OH) serf-assembled monolayer, i.e., terminally functionalized with OH groups, provided efficient catalytic oxidation of sulfite, contrary to nonfunctionalized alkanethiols, e.g., 1-decanethiol, or alkanethiol layers terminally functionalized with N[H.sub.2] groups. Comparative studies with short-chain alkanethiols, e.g., cysteamine and 2-mercaptoethanol, revealed an evidently different mode of adsorption of SOx on these layers, onto which SOx was not catalytically active. Coadsorption of MuD-OH and 11-mercapto-1-undecanamine improved the surface properties of the SAM, resulting in a higher surface coverage with bioelectrocatalytically active SOx but not in an increased apparent catalytic rate constant, [k.sub.cat], ranging in the order of 18-24 [s.sup.-1] at pH 7.4. The achieved efficiency of SOx bioelectrocatalysis in direct ET reaction between the modified electrode and the enzyme approached the rates characteristic for the catalysis mediated by cytochrome c, the natural redox partner of SOx, thus implying the retention of the biological function of SOx under the heterogeneous electrode reaction conditions. Results obtained enable the development of a third-generation biosensor for sulfite monitoring.

Iridium oxide (IrOx) is one of the most efficient electrocatalysts for water oxidation reaction (WOR). Here, WOR electrocatalysis by 1.6 nm IrOx nanoparticles (NPs) electrophoretically deposited onto spectroscopic graphite (Gr) and basal plane highly ordered pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) was studied as a function of NPs' capping ligands and electrodeposition substrate. On Gr, OH-- and H2O-capped NPs exhibited close sub-monolayer surface coverages and specific electrocatalytic activity of 18.9-23.5 mAnmol-1 of IrIV/V sites, at 1 V and pH 7. On HOPG, OH--capped NPs produced films with a diminished WOR activity of 5.17-2.40 mAnmol-1. Electro-wettability-induced changes impeded electrophoretic deposition of H2O-capped NPs on HOPG, WOR currents being 25-fold lower than observed for OH--capped ones. The electrocatalysis efficiency correlated with hydrophilic properties of the substrate electrodes, affecting morphological and as a result catalytic properties of the formed IrOx films. These results, important both for studied and related carbon nanomaterials systems, allow fine-tuning of electrocatalysis by a proper choice of the substrate electrode. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]