Heavily boron-doped diamond grown on scalable heteroepitaxial quasi-substrates

A promising single crystal material for electrochemical sensing applications

Journal article (2023)

Authors

Z. Liu Micro and Nano Engineering - Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering
S. Baluchová Micro and Nano Engineering - Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering
A. Frota Sartori Micro and Nano Engineering - Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering
Z. Li Team Arjan Mol - Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering
Y. Gonzalez Garcia Team Yaiza Gonzalez Garcia - Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering
Matthias Schreck Universität Augsburg
J.G. Buijnsters Micro and Nano Engineering - Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering
Research Group
Micro and Nano Engineering (Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering) (TU Delft)
Copyright: © 2023 Z. Liu, S. Baluchová, A. Frota Sartori, Z. Li, Y. Gonzalez Garcia, Matthias Schreck, J.G. Buijnsters
DOI
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https://doi.org/10.1016/j.carbon.2022.10.023
Surface analysis Electrochemical performance Heavy boron doping Heteroepitaxial growth Large-area electrodes Single-crystal diamond
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Published Date

2023

Language

English

Faculty

Mechanical, Maritime and Materials Engineering

Department

Precision and Microsystems Engineering

Research Group

Micro and Nano Engineering

Abstract

In this work, three distinct heteroepitaxial single-crystal boron-doped diamond (SC-BDD) electrodes were fabricated and subjected to detailed surface analysis and electrochemical characterization. Specifically, the heteroepitaxy approach allowed to synthesize large-area (1 cm2) and heavily-doped (100)-oriented SC-BDD electrodes. Their single-crystal nature and crystal orientation were confirmed by X-ray diffraction, while scanning electron and atomic force microscopies revealed marked variations in surface morphology resulting from their growth on respective on-axis and off-axis substrates. Further, absence of sp2 impurities along with heavy boron doping (>1021 cm−3) was demonstrated by Raman spectroscopy and Mott-Schottky analysis, respectively. Cyclic voltammetry (CV) in a 0.1 M KNO3 solution revealed wide potential windows (∼3.3 V) and low double-layer capacitance (<4 μF cm−2) of the SC-BDD electrodes. Their highly conductive, ‘metal-like’ nature was confirmed by CV with [Ru(NH3)6]3+/2+ probe manifesting near-reversible redox response with ΔEp approaching 0.059 V. The same probe was used to record scanning electrochemical micrographs, which clearly demonstrated homogeneously distributed electrochemical activity of the heteroepitaxial SC-BDD electrodes. Minor differences in their electrochemical performance, presumably resulting from the somewhat different morphological features, were only unveiled during CV with surface sensitive compounds [Fe(CN)6]3−/4− and dopamine. The latter was also used to show the possibility of applying herein developed heteroepitaxial SC-BDD electrodes for electrochemical sensing, whereas experiments with anthraquinone-2,6-disulfonate revealed their enhanced resistance to fouling. All in all, heteroepitaxial SC-BDD represents a highly attractive electrode material which can, owing to the fabrication strategy, easily overcome size limitation, currently preventing broader use of single crystal diamond electrodes in electrochemical applications.