Electrochemical applications of printed circuit boards: Electrocatalysis and internal reference electrodes

As a chemically resistant hard substrate with surface-mounted metal pads, Printed Circuit Boards (PCBs) have the potential to be utilized as substrates for electrochemical applications such as electrochemical microfluidic de -vices. Compared with regular electrochemical substrates made with glass slides or filter papers, PCB-based substrates have electrode pads with customized size, shape and position, and more wiring layers. Previous works have shown that the PCB-based electrochemical devices can be used as biosensors, electrochemical impedance cytometers, and electrochemical imaging platforms, while their workability as a platform for elec-trocatalysis has not yet been presented. This work presents a method to develop PCBs into electrochemical substrates for alcohol electrocatalysis and internal reference electrodes. The copper pads were pretreated and electrodeposited with nickel (Ni), silver (Ag), palladium (Pd), and platinum (Pt) for various electrocatalytic purposes. To show the ability of making PCB-based electrochemical devices, two types of PCB-based reference electrodes were made.

Automated summary

PCBs, as chemically resistant hard substrates with surface-mounted metal pads, have the potential to be utilized as substrates for electrochemical applications with customized electrode pads and wiring layers. This study presents a method to develop PCBs into electrochemical substrates for alcohol electrocatalysis and internal reference electrodes.