Electrochemical sensor with diamond electrodes

Abstract

An electrochemical sensor comprising: a reference electrode () formed of an electrically conductive synthetic doped diamond material and configured to be located in electrical contact with a solution () to be analysed; a sensing electrode () formed of an electrically conductive synthetic doped diamond material and configured to be located in contact with the solution () to be analysed; an electrical controller () configured to conduct stripping voltammetric measurements by applying a voltage to the sensing electrode (), to change the applied voltage relative to the reference electrode (), and to measure an electric current flowing through the sensing electrode () thereby generating voltammetry data; and a calibration system configured to provide an in-situ calibration for providing a reference point in the voltammetric data since the potential of the diamond reference electrode is non fixed and floating. Consequently, assigning of peaks (M, M, M) in the voltammetry data to chemical species (M, M, M) is possible, thereby allowing the type and concentration of chemical species in the solution () to be determined. The in-situ calibration consists of: 1-using a spectrometer for X-rays, Gamma rays or fluorescence measurements integrated in the sensor, 2-using a known redox couple added to the solution that will provide a reference peak in the voltammetric data, or 3-producing in-situ ionic species at the vicinity of the reference electrode.