Gold Nanoparticle Metallization of Flexible Conducting Polymer Electrode

Abstract

Flexible electrodes made of conjugate polymers are used for whole plastic MEMS & bio-electrochemical sensors. In this paper we report on novel electrode made of made of gold nanoparticle on polypyrrole. Electrodepositing gold on polypyrrole was successful, while similar attempt to deposit gold on polyaniline failed. One application for the conjugate polymer conductor was electrodes for “All polymer” MEMS. Second application is bio-electrochemical sensing of redox reactions, for example for detecting electrochemically active products of enzymatic reactions. In this paper, the device fabrication process flow is described as well as its electrical properties. The polypyrrole was deposited by electrochemical polymerization. Gold nanoparticle were deposited by electroplating. That gold nano-particle layer was less than one nano-particle monolayer thick which maintained the device flexibility while its electrochemical behavior was similar to that of bare gold electrode. A study of the nucleation and growth of the top gold using high-resolution scanning electron microscope is presented as well as cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy in biological solution is demonstrated.