Carbon-doped poly(dimethylsiloxane) (C-PDMS) modified with gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) is a highly promising material for the development of flexible lab-on-chip biosensors. Here, we present an electrochemical method to prepare stabilizer-free AuNPs directly on hydrophobic conducting substrates like C-PDMS without physical or chemical pre-treatment of the C-PDMS substrate. Using a potentiostatic triple pulse strategy, spherical, non-stabilized AuNPs of diameter 76±5 nm could be deposited within 5 s with narrow size-dispersion on the hydrophobic C-PDMS substrate in the absence of any structure directing or stabilizing agent. The detailed investigation of the mechanism of electrochemical formation of gold seeds and their three-dimensional growth on the hydrophobic surface along with nanomechanical atomic force-scanning electrochemical microscopy (QNM-AFM-SECM) characterization as well as conductive AFM allowed developing this fast electrochemical strategy with control in the desired size and size-dispersion of AuNPs. A detailed electrochemical investigation using cyclic voltammetry, anodic differential pulse voltammetry, and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy was conducted to characterize the electrochemical behavior of uncapped AuNPs deposited on C-PDMS. The Fc+ (MeOH)2 /Fc(MeOH)2 redox reaction at AuNPs-C-PDMS showed an improved charge transfer coefficient and heterogeneous charge transfer rate constant compared to the bare C-PDMS substrate.
Keywords: QNM-AFM-SECMs; conductive atomic force microscopy; conductive polydimethylsiloxane; stabilizer-free gold nanoparticles; template-free electrosynthesis.
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