Tailoring Defects in B, N-Codoped Carbon Nanowalls for Direct Electrochemical Oxidation of Glyphosate and its Metabolites.

Tailoring the defects in graphene and its related carbon allotropes has great potential to exploit their enhanced electrochemical properties for energy applications, environmental remediation, and sensing. Vertical graphene, also known as carbon nanowalls (CNWs), exhibits a large surface area, enhanced charge transfer capability, and high defect density, making it suitable for a wide range of emerging applications. However, precise control and tuning of the defect size, position, and density remain challenging; moreover, due to their characteristic labyrinthine morphology, conventional characterization techniques and widely accepted quality indicators fail or need to be reformulated. This study primarily focuses on examining the impact of boron heterodoping and argon plasma treatment on CNW structures, uncovering complex interplays between specific defect-induced three-dimensional nanostructures and electrochemical performance. Moreover, the study introduces the use of defect-rich CNWs as a label-free electrode for directly oxidizing glyphosate (GLY), a common herbicide, and its metabolites (sarcosine and aminomethylphosphonic acid) for the first time. Crucially, we discovered that the presence of specific boron bonds (BC and BN), coupled with the absence of Lewis-base functional groups such as pyridinic-N, is essential for the oxidation of these analytes. Notably, the D+D* second-order combinational Raman modes at ≈2570 cm-1 emerged as a reliable indicator of the analytes' affinity. Contrary to expectations, the electrochemically active surface area and the presence of oxygen-containing functional groups played a secondary role. Argon-plasma post-treatment was found to adversely affect both the morphology and surface chemistry of CNWs, leading to an increase in sp3-hybridized carbon, the introduction of oxygen, and alterations in the types of nitrogen functional groups. Simulations support that certain defects are functional for GLY rather than AMPA. Sarcosine oxidation is the least affected by defect type.

Hopping or Tunneling? Tailoring the Electron Transport Mechanisms through Hydrogen Bonding Geometry in the Boron-Doped Diamond Molecular Junctions.

Mechanisms of charge transport in molecular junctions involving hydrogen bonds are complex and remain mostly unclear. This study is focused on the elucidation of the electron transfer in a molecular device consisting of two boron-doped diamond interfaces bound with an aromatic linker and a hydrogen bonding surrogating molecule. The projected local density of states (PLODS) analysis coupled with transmission spectra and current-voltage (I-V) simulations show that hydrogen bonding through electron-donating hydroxyl groups in the aromatic linker facilitates electron transfer, while the electron-withdrawing carboxyl group inhibits electron transfer across the junction. Moreover, slight variations in the geometry of hydrogen bonding lead to significant changes in the alignment of the energy levels and positions of the transmission modes. As a result, we observe the switching of the electron transport mechanism from tunneling to hopping accompanied by a change in the shape of the I-V curves and current magnitudes. These results give important information on the tailoring of the electronic properties of molecular junctions.

Performance of electrochemical immunoassays for clinical diagnostics of SARS-CoV-2 based on selective nucleocapsid N protein detection: Boron-doped diamond, gold and glassy carbon evaluation.

The 21st century has already brought us a plethora of new threats related to viruses that emerge in humans after zoonotic transmission or drastically change their geographic distribution or prevalence. Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) was first spotted at the end of 2019 to rapidly spread in southwest Asia and later cause a global pandemic, which paralyzes the world since then. We have designed novel immunosensors targeting conserved protein sequences of the N protein of SARS-CoV-2 based on lab-produced and purified anti-SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid antibodies that are densely grafted onto various surfaces (diamond/gold/glassy carbon). Titration of antibodies shows very strong reactions up to 1:72 900 dilution. Next, we showed the mechanism of interactions of our immunoassay with nucleocapsid N protein revealing molecular recognition by impedimetric measurements supported by hybrid modeling results with both density functional theory and molecular dynamics methods. Biosensors allowed for a fast (in less than 10 min) detection of SARS-CoV-2 virus with a limit of detection from 0.227 ng/ml through 0.334 ng/ml to 0.362 ng/ml for glassy carbon, boron-doped diamond, and gold surfaces, respectively. For all tested surfaces, we obtained a wide linear range of concentrations from 4.4 ng/ml to 4.4 pg/ml. Furthermore, our sensor leads to a highly specific response to SARS-CoV-2 clinical samples versus other upper respiratory tract viruses such as influenza, respiratory syncytial virus, or Epstein-Barr virus. All clinical samples were tested simultaneously on biosensors and real-time polymerase chain reactions.

High-Temperature Oxidation of Heavy Boron-Doped Diamond Electrodes: Microstructural and Electrochemical Performance Modification.

In this work, we reveal in detail the effects of high-temperature treatment in air at 600 °C on the microstructure as well as the physico-chemical and electrochemical properties of boron-doped diamond (BDD) electrodes. The thermal treatment of freshly grown BDD electrodes was applied, resulting in permanent structural modifications of surface depending on the exposure time. High temperature affects material corrosion, inducing crystal defects. The oxidized BDD surfaces were studied by means of cyclic voltammetry (CV) and scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM), revealing a significant decrease in the electrode activity and local heterogeneity of areas owing to various standard rate constants. This effect was correlated with a resultant increase of surface resistance heterogeneity by scanning spreading resistance microscopy (SSRM). The X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) confirmed the rate and heterogeneity of the oxidation process, revealing hydroxyl species to be dominant on the electrode surface. Morphological tests using scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and atomic force microscopy (AFM) revealed that prolonged durations of high-temperature treatment lead not only to surface oxidation but also to irreversible structural defects in the form of etch pits. Our results show that even subsequent electrode rehydrogenation in plasma is not sufficient to reverse this surface oxidation in terms of electrochemical and physico-chemical properties, and the nature of high-temperature corrosion of BDD electrodes should be considered irreversible.

Ligand-Modified Boron-Doped Diamond Surface: DFT Insights into the Electronic Properties of Biofunctionalization.

With the increasing power of computation systems, theoretical calculations provide a means for quick determination of material properties, laying out a research plan, and lowering material development costs. One of the most common is Density Functional Theory (DFT), which allows us to simulate the structure of chemical molecules or crystals and their interaction. In developing a new generation of biosensors, understanding the nature of functional linkers, antibodies, and ligands become essential. In this study, we used DFT to model a bulk boron-doped diamond slab, modified by a functional linker and a surrogate proteins ligand. DTF calculations enable the prediction of electronic transport properties in an electrochemical sensor setup, composed of a boron-doped diamond electrode functionalized by 4-amino benzoic acids and a target surrogated protein-ligand for influenza. Electron conduction pathways and other signatures associated with the detection and measurement of the target analyte are revealed.