Electrogeneration of ultra-thin silica films for the functionalization of macroporous electrodes

Electro-assisted generation of ultra-thin silica films can be achieved by using very dilute tetraethoxysilane (TEOS) precursors in the starting sol. The electrochemical manipulation of pH enables to catalyze polycondensation only at the electrode/solution interface, which offers the advantage of uniform deposition of thin layers onto the whole internal surfaces of macroporous gold electrodes, without any pore clogging effect. This opens promising avenues for application in various fields, as shown here for active biomolecule encapsulation. (C) 2010 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.