Effect of Nanostructures of Au Electrodes on the Electrochemical Detection of As

The development of simple methods for As detection has received great attention because As is a toxic chemical element causing environmental and health-related issues. In this work, the effect of nanostructures of Au electrodes on their electroanalytical performance during As detection was investigated. Different Au nanostructures with various surface morphologies such as nanoplate Au, nanospike Au, and dendritic Au structures were prepared, and their electrochemical behaviors toward square-wave anodic stripping voltammetric As detection were examined. The difference in intrinsic efficiency for As detection between nanostructured and flat Au electrodes was explained based on the crystallographic orientations of Au surfaces, as examined by the underpotential deposition of Pb. The most efficient As detection performance was obtained with nanoplate Au electrodes, and the effects of the pre-deposition time and interference on As detection of the nanoplate Au electrodes were also investigated.