Electrochemical sensor
First Claim
1. An electrochemical sensor, comprising:
- substantially dielectric first planar substrate means;
a plurality of micro-electrode means provided on said dielectric substrate means and arranged as an array extending along a set axis, each said micro-electrode means comprising first and second sets of substantially parallel finger means of set lengths and of widths of about 1 μ
m and extending in a direction substantially normal to said axis, said finger means being interdigitatedly arranged and electrically insulated from each other by spacings of about 700 nm;
single reference electrode means provided on said substrate means electrically insulated from said micro-electrode means; and
means for selectively connecting each of said micro-electrode means and said reference electrode means to a different electrical potential.
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Abstract
The invention relates to an electrochemical sensor with interdigital micro-electrodes (1) with structure widths in the sub-μm range. With a twin or multi-pair array of the interdigital micro-electrodes on a substrate (8), the electrochemical detection of molecules with high sensitivity is made possible and further uses for the detection of chemical reaction cycles are made available. The electrodes may be arranged in a micro-channel applied to the substrate having a constant small volume of a few nanoliters. The electrochemical sensor of the invention is suitable for the multiple measurement of the same species of molecule or as a multi-sensitive sensor in chemical analysis and process control in various fields such as biotechnology, environmental protection or health.
522 Citations
14 Claims
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1. An electrochemical sensor, comprising:
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substantially dielectric first planar substrate means; a plurality of micro-electrode means provided on said dielectric substrate means and arranged as an array extending along a set axis, each said micro-electrode means comprising first and second sets of substantially parallel finger means of set lengths and of widths of about 1 μ
m and extending in a direction substantially normal to said axis, said finger means being interdigitatedly arranged and electrically insulated from each other by spacings of about 700 nm;single reference electrode means provided on said substrate means electrically insulated from said micro-electrode means; and means for selectively connecting each of said micro-electrode means and said reference electrode means to a different electrical potential. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
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9. A method of utilizing an electrochemical sensor of the kind comprising substantially dielectric first planar substrate means, a plurality of micro-electrode means provided on said first dielectric substrate means and arranged as an array extending along a set axis and each comprising first and second sets of substantially parallel finger means of set lengths and widths extending in a direction normal to said axis and being interdigitally arranged in electrical insulation from each other, and further comprising reference electrode means on said first substrate means in electrical insulation from said micro-electrode means, and means for connecting said micro-electrode means and said reference electrode means to electrical potential source means for multiple measurement of the same measuring effect, comprising the steps of:
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applying a different potential to each of said plurality of micro-electrode means; subjecting said micro-electrode means to an analyte; measuring at least one of the amperometric, potentiometric and impedimetric effects at individual micro-electrode means; and averaging said at least one amperometric, potentiometric, and impedimetric effects at each of said plurality of micro-electrode means for measuring the molecular concentration in a fluid. - View Dependent Claims (10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
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Specification