Transparent diamond microelectrodes for biochemical application

In this investigation a technology has been developed to use diamond electrodes in Micro Electrode Arrays (MEAs) on a transparent sapphire substrate, thus combining the outstanding electrochemical properties of boron-doped diamond electrodes (BDD) with the transparency needed for simultaneous fluorescence analysis. Nanodiamond films were grown on double side polished sapphire substrates by hot filament CVD (HFCVD) and Bias Enhanced Nucleation (BEN). A simple four microelectrode array (quadrupole) has been fabricated, fully characterized in optical and electrochemical properties, and tested with adrenal chromaffin cells, identifying amperometric spikes by the four recording diamond electrodes, corresponding to the oxidation current of catecholamine molecules. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.