Development of Screen-printed Electrodes Based on Laboratory-made Conductive Inks Derived From Renewable Sources and Recycled Polymers.

Screen-printed electrodes (SPEs) are devices widely employed in the manufacturing of sensors and biosensors, because they have good stability and are manufactured by simple and scalable techniques. Furthermore, these electrodes can be easily modified with biomolecules— the best-known example being the glucose biosensor used in the diagnosis of Diabetes mellitus, which represents a market of approximately one billion of US Dollar [1]. In this work, we developed a method for manufacturing screen-printed electrodes using a laboratory-made conductive ink, employing terpene solvent, preferentially d-limonene, recycled polymeric additive derived from petroleum polymers, specifically polystyrene and micronized graphite and carbon black nanoparticle as conducting components [2]. In the process of conductive ink production, the concentrations of the components were optimized and appropriate parameters were established to obtain several types of inks with viscosity, surface area, and electric resistance modulated for the desired applications. After a complete characterization, screen printed electrodes were fabricated with two composition of the obtained laboratory-made conductive inks. A proof of concepts of their analytical application was made for the determination of ferrocene, catechol, ascorbic acid, hydroquinone, and potassium ferrocyanide/ ferricyanide.