Boron-doped graphene and boron-doped diamond electrodes: detection of biomarkers and resistance to fouling

Abstract

Doped carbon materials are of high interest as doping can change their properties. Here we wish to contrast the electrochemical behaviour of two carbon allotropes – sp³ hybridized carbon as diamond and sp² hybridized carbon as graphene – doped by boron. We show that even though both materials exhibit similar heterogeneous electron transfer towards ferro/ferricyanide, there are dramatic differences towards the oxidation of biomolecules, such as ascorbic acid, uric acid, dopamine and β-nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NADH). The boron-doped graphene exhibits much lower oxidation potentials than boron-doped diamond. The stability of the surfaces towards NADH oxidation product fouling has been studied and in the long term, there is no significant difference among the studied materials. The proton/electron coupled reduction of dopamine and nitroaromatic explosive (TNT) takes place on boron-doped graphene, while it is not observable at boron-doped diamond. These findings show that boron-doped sp² graphene and sp³ diamond behave, in many aspects, dramatically differently and this shall have a profound influence upon their applicability as electrochemical materials.