Electrochemical Sensing with a Suspended Single Nanowire

The use of nanoscale electrodes is beneficial in microfluidic sensing applications, as a high sensitivity and efficient mass transport can be achieved. Facile preparation of millimeter-long gold nanowires is possible using nanoskiving. Single nanowires were suspended over a glass microchannel, which was closed with a complementary PDMS microchannel. Using the nanowire as an electrode, cyclic voltammograms of ferrocene were recorded, with the electroactive solution flowing through the channel at different rates. Nanowires suspended in the center of the flow profile exhibit higher current responses than nanowires on the bottom of microchannels, due to efficient analyte transport towards the electrode surface