Graphene based nanomaterials as electrochemical detectors in Lab-on-a-chip devices

Graphene related materials have received significant attention as new and advantageous materials for electrochemistry. Here we present an evaluation of graphene oxide amperometric detectors in microfluidics devices and we compare the results to those obtained at graphite microparticles and bare glassy carbon electrodes. We evaluate the influence on peak currents (sensitivity) and peak width (resolution and separation efficiency) of neurotransmitters and nitroaromatic explosives. We conclude that there is no major advantage of using graphene oxide as detector in microfluidics devices and graphite microparticles-based amperometric detectors in microfluidics provide an equivalent or better performance. (C) 2011 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.