Development and evaluation of gold 3D cylindrical nanoelectrode ensembles

Gold 3D cylindrical nanoelectrode ensembles (NEEs), 100 nm in diameter and 500 nm in length were prepared by electroless template synthesis in polycarbonate filter membranes, followed by selective controlled chemical etching. The morphology of the nanowires and cylindrical NEEs was imaged by scanning electron microscopy. The protruding nanoelectrodes were in good parallel order. EDX study showed that the nanoelectrode elements consisted of pure gold. The electrochemical evaluation of the 3D electrodes was conducted using the well known [Fe(CN)₆]^3-/[Fe(CN)₆] ^4- couple. Cyclic voltammgrams (CV) show a very low double layer charging current and a higher ratio of signal to background current than 2D disc NEEs. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) indicates that the 3D cylindrical NEEs effectively accelerate the charge transfer process, which is in consistent with the results of CV. The linear relationship with a slope of 0.5 between 1g I_pc and 1g ν shows that linear diffusion is dominant on the 3D cylindrical NEEs at conventional scan rates.