Measurement of ultrasmall volumes using anodic stripping voltammetry

by Vandaveer, W. R.; Fritsch, I.

This paper discusses a new and effective method for small volume determination. The benefits of working with small volumes are numerous and include using less material, generating less waste, increased functionality in less space, portability, and high throughput. As sample size decreases, measuring its volume becomes more challenging. The most prevalent method for small volume determination is visual inspection. The method presented in this paper is precise, more quantitative, and adaptive to many solution geometries, because it is based on a coulometric approach. Demonstration of this method is performed on volumes of similar to1 nL containing silver and using a self-contained microcavity device that contains multiple electrodes. The silver is "exhaustively" deposited during a cathodic potential step, followed by anodic stripping voltammetry. It is expected that an even faster and more accurate analysis of volumes much smaller than those evaluated here is easily possible using this approach.

Journal
Analytical Chemistry
Volume
74
Issue
14
Year
2002
Start Page
3575-3578
URL
https://dx.doi.org/10.1021/ac011036s
ISBN/ISSN
1520-6882; 0003-2700
DOI
10.1021/ac011036s