Tapered carbon microelectrode and process for production thereof
First Claim
1. A method for producing a tapered carbon microelectrode which comprises(i) extruding an organic material itself or a composition prepared by highly dispersing and compounding crystalline carbon fine powder with an organic material as a binder into a desired thin rod form,(ii) calcining the product thus extruded in an inert atmosphere or in a non-oxidizing atmosphere up to an elevated temperature,(iii) thereby carbonizing the organic material itself or the organic binder contained in the composition to produce a pure carbon thin rod,(iv) soaking the resulting carbon thin rod as an anode in an electrolytic solution, at near the oxygen evolution potential,(v) gradually pulling up the carbon thin rod while subjecting the tip portion of the carbon thin rod to electrochemical oxidation to form a conically sharp tip portion having an extremely small diameter,(vi) then connecting a lead wire with the end portion of the carbon thin rod, and(vii) coating with an insulating material all the surface of the carbon thin rod except a desired portion at the conically sharp tip portion having an extremely small diameter.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A tapered carbon microelectrode is produced by extruding an organic material or a composition composed of crystalline carbon fine powder and an organic binder into a thin rod form, carbonizing said rod by calcining to produce a pure carbon thin rod, soaking the resulting thin rod as an anode in an electrolytic solution, gradually pulling up the thin rod while electrochemically oxidizing the tip portion of the thin rod. Then a lead wire is connected with the thick portion of the thin rod followed by coating all the surface except the conically sharp tip portion.
The tapered carbon electrode can be used for various electrochemical measurements and scanning tunneling microscope.
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Citations
4 Claims
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1. A method for producing a tapered carbon microelectrode which comprises
(i) extruding an organic material itself or a composition prepared by highly dispersing and compounding crystalline carbon fine powder with an organic material as a binder into a desired thin rod form, (ii) calcining the product thus extruded in an inert atmosphere or in a non-oxidizing atmosphere up to an elevated temperature, (iii) thereby carbonizing the organic material itself or the organic binder contained in the composition to produce a pure carbon thin rod, (iv) soaking the resulting carbon thin rod as an anode in an electrolytic solution, at near the oxygen evolution potential, (v) gradually pulling up the carbon thin rod while subjecting the tip portion of the carbon thin rod to electrochemical oxidation to form a conically sharp tip portion having an extremely small diameter, (vi) then connecting a lead wire with the end portion of the carbon thin rod, and (vii) coating with an insulating material all the surface of the carbon thin rod except a desired portion at the conically sharp tip portion having an extremely small diameter.
Specification