Using Purely Sinusoidal Voltammetry for Rapid Inference of Surface-Confined Electrochemical Reaction Parameters.

Alternating current (AC) voltammetric techniques are experimentally powerful as they enable Faradaic current to be isolated from non-Faradaic contributions. Finding the best global fit between experimental voltammetric data and simulations based on reaction models requires searching a substantial parameter space at high resolution. In this paper, we estimate parameters from purely sinusoidal voltammetry (PSV) experiments, investigating the redox reactions of a surface-confined ferrocene derivative. The advantage of PSV is that a complete experiment can be simulated relatively rapidly, compared to other AC voltammetric techniques. In one example involving thermodynamic dispersion, a PSV parameter inference effort requiring 7,500,000 simulations was completed in 7 h, whereas the same process for our previously used technique, ramped Fourier transform AC voltammetry (ramped FTACV), would have taken 4 days. Using both synthetic and experimental data with a surface confined diazonium substituted ferrocene derivative, it is shown that the PSV technique can be used to recover the key chemical and physical parameters. By applying techniques from Bayesian inference and Markov chain Monte Carlo methods, the confidence, distribution, and degree of correlation of the recovered parameters was visualized and quantified.

Retuning the Catalytic Bias and Overpotential of a [NiFe]-Hydrogenase via a Single Amino Acid Exchange at the Electron Entry/Exit Site.

The redox chemistry of the electron entry/exit site in Escherichia coli hydrogenase-1 is shown to play a vital role in tuning biocatalysis. Inspired by nature, we generate a HyaA-R193L variant to disrupt a proposed Arg-His cation-π interaction in the secondary coordination sphere of the outermost, "distal", iron-sulfur cluster. This rewires the enzyme, enhancing the relative rate of H2 production and the thermodynamic efficiency of H2 oxidation catalysis. On the basis of Fourier transformed alternating current voltammetry measurements, we relate these changes in catalysis to a shift in the distal [Fe4S4]2+/1+ redox potential, a previously experimentally inaccessible parameter. Thus, metalloenzyme chemistry is shown to be tuned by the second coordination sphere of an electron transfer site distant from the catalytic center.

Analysis of HypD Disulfide Redox Chemistry via Optimization of Fourier Transformed ac Voltammetric Data.

Rapid disulfide bond formation and cleavage is an essential mechanism of life. Using large amplitude Fourier transformed alternating current voltammetry (FTacV) we have measured previously uncharacterized disulfide bond redox chemistry in Escherichia coli HypD. This protein is representative of a class of assembly proteins that play an essential role in the biosynthesis of the active site of [NiFe]-hydrogenases, a family of H2-activating enzymes. Compared to conventional electrochemical methods, the advantages of the FTacV technique are the high resolution of the faradaic signal in the higher order harmonics and the fact that a single electrochemical experiment contains all the data needed to estimate the (very fast) electron transfer rates (both rate constants ≥ 4000 s-1) and quantify the energetics of the cysteine disulfide redox-reaction (reversible potentials for both processes approximately -0.21 ± 0.01 V vs SHE at pH 6). Previously, deriving such data depended on an inefficient manual trial-and-error approach to simulation. As a highly advantageous alternative, we describe herein an automated multiparameter data optimization analysis strategy where the simulated and experimental faradaic current data are compared for both the real and imaginary components in each of the 4th to 12th harmonics after quantifying the charging current data using the time-domain response.

Attributes of direct current aperiodic and alternating current harmonic components derived from large amplitude Fourier transformed voltammetry under microfluidic control in a channel electrode.

The flow rate dependencies of the aperiodic direct current (dc) and fundamental to eighth alternating current (ac) harmonic components derived from large-amplitude Fourier transformed ac (FT-ac) voltammetry have been evaluated in a microfluidic flow cell containing a 25 µm gold microband electrode. For the oxidation of ferrocenemethanol ([FcMeOH]/[FcMeOH](+) process) in aqueous 0.1 M KNO(3) electrolyte, standard "Levich-like" dc behavior is observed for the aperiodic dc component, which enables the diffusion coefficient for FcMeOH to be obtained. In experimental studies, the first and second ac harmonic components contain contributions from the double layer capacitance current, thereby allowing details of the non-Faradaic current to be established. In contrast, the higher order harmonics and dc aperiodic component are essentially devoid of double layer capacitance contributions allowing the faradaic current dependence on flow rate to be studied. Significantly, flow rate independent data conforming to linear diffusion controlled theory are found in the sixth and higher ac harmonics at a frequency of 15 Hz and for all ac harmonics at a frequency of ≥ 90 Hz. Analysis of FT-ac voltammograms by theory based on stationary microband or planar electrode configurations confirms that stationary microband and planar electrode configurations and experimental data all converge for the higher order harmonics and establishes that the electrode kinetics are very fast (≥1 cms(-1)). The ability to locate, from a single experiment, a dc Faradaic component displaying Levich behavior, fundamental and second harmonics that contain details of the double layer capacitance, and Faradaic ac higher order harmonic currents that are devoid of capacitance, independent of the volume flow rate and also conform closely to mass transport by planar diffusion, provides enhanced flexibility in mass transport and electrode kinetic analysis and in understanding the performance of hydrodynamic electrochemical cells and reactors.

Leveraging e-Science infrastructure for electrochemical research.

As in many scientific disciplines, modern chemistry involves a mix of experimentation and computer-supported theory. Historically, these skills have been provided by different groups, and range from traditional 'wet' laboratory science to advanced numerical simulation. Increasingly, progress is made by global collaborations, in which new theory may be developed in one part of the world and applied and tested in the laboratory elsewhere. e-Science, or cyber-infrastructure, underpins such collaborations by providing a unified platform for accessing scientific instruments, computers and data archives, and collaboration tools. In this paper we discuss the application of advanced e-Science software tools to electrochemistry research performed in three different laboratories--two at Monash University in Australia and one at the University of Oxford in the UK. We show that software tools that were originally developed for a range of application domains can be applied to electrochemical problems, in particular Fourier voltammetry. Moreover, we show that, by replacing ad-hoc manual processes with e-Science tools, we obtain more accurate solutions automatically.

Characterization of nonlinear background components in voltammetry by use of large amplitude periodic perturbations and fourier transform analysis.

Under most experimental conditions, a distinctly nonlinear background current is encountered in all forms of voltammetry which arises from the potential dependence of the capacitance. The nonlinear background current has been successfully modeled under large amplitude sinusoidal ac voltammetric conditions with a fourth order polynomial. The model was applied to a dummy cell containing a nonideal ceramic capacitor and commonly used electrodes. The nonlinearity in behavior of the background capacitance is particularly significant when considering the discrimination between the Faradaic and background contributions in the higher order harmonics resolved in ac voltammetry by Fourier transform-inverse Fourier transform approaches and in the simulation of the background current and hence double-layer capacitance as a function of potential. Typically, measurable background current under large amplitude conditions is detectable in the dc and fundamental to fourth harmonic components in large amplitude ac voltammetry. For analytical purposes, this background current can be corrected on a per harmonic basis without the need for any model. Background correction has been successfully applied to the first four harmonics for the oxidation of ferrocenemonocarboxylic acid over the concentration range of 5-500 microM in aqueous 0.5 M NaCl solution.

Systematic evaluation of electrode kinetics and impact of surface heterogeneity for surface-confined proteins using analysis of harmonic components available in sinusoidal large-amplitude Fourier transformed ac voltammetry.

A systematic approach to quantifying the electrode kinetics of surface-confined proteins and identifying the impact of surface heterogeneity is presented. The evaluation approach is based on analysis of individual harmonics derived from Fourier transformed large-amplitude ac voltammetry, and their peak current magnitude, I(p)(nomegat) versus frequency, f, relationships. Effectively, variability in the time-scale of each harmonic is expected, and advantage is taken of the fact that each individual harmonic displays a different level of sensitivity with respect to the kinetic evaluation. The data strategy protocols have been examined for the azurin Cu(II)/Cu(I) process when this metalloprotein is immobilized on gold electrodes modified alkanethiols having different chain lengths, using both pure and mixed thiol systems. I(p)(nomegat) versusf relationships also offer the advantage of the ability to detect and allow for the ohmic IR(u) drop effect and allow analyses that are independent of protein surface coverage. Estimation of an electron transfer rate is achievable from this form of analysis. However, experimentally observed waveshapes for each individual harmonic are consistently broader than that deduced theoretically on the basis of their rate constants because of kinetic and/or thermodynamic dispersion. In the mixed thiol systems, and with use of the ac method, kinetic discrimination is achieved for fast processes. This systematic study based on a model protein indicates that a more comprehensive level of evaluation of electrode kinetics can be derived from analysis of the ac harmonics available in large-amplitude ac voltammetry, by initially using I(p)(nomegat)-f data to evaluate the electrode kinetics followed by waveshape analysis to detect heterogeneity effects that give rise to kinetic or thermodynamic dispersion.

Detailed analysis of the electron-transfer properties of azurin adsorbed on graphite electrodes using DC and large-amplitude Fourier transformed AC voltammetry.

The analysis of dc cyclic voltammograms of surface-confined metalloproteins is complicated by large background currents, significant ohmic iRu drop, and frequency dispersion related to protein and electrode surface inhomogeneity. The use of large-amplitude Fourier transform ac voltammetry for the quantification of the electron-transfer properties of a thin film of redox-active protein azurin adsorbed onto edge-plane, basal-plane, and highly oriented pyrolytic graphite electrode surfaces has been evaluated and compared to results obtained by dc cyclic voltammetry. In principle, it has been established that fourth and higher harmonic sine-wave data are ideally suited for analysis of electron-transfer processes as they are almost completely devoid of background capacitance current contributions. However, uncompensated resistance has a higher impact on these components, as is the case with fast scan rate dc techniques, so strategies to include this term in the simulations have been investigated. Application of recommended strategies for the evaluation of the electron-transfer properties of azurin adsorbed onto three forms of graphite, each having different background or uncompensated resistance values, is described and compared to results obtained by traditionally used forms of cyclic voltammetry. The electron-transfer rate constant, k0', of azurin at a highly oriented pyrolytic graphite electrode surface was approximately 250 s(-1), compared with > or =1000 s(-1) at edge-plane and basal-plane graphite electrodes. The significantly lower k0' value found at the highly oriented pyrolytic graphite electrode was related to the relatively low level of edge-plane defect sites present at the surface of this electrode. However, analysis of high ac harmonics suggests that frequency dispersion is substantial at all electrode surfaces. Such effects in these diffusionless situations are significantly enhanced relative to solution-phase voltammetry, where overlay of diffusion layers minimizes the impact of heterogeneity.

Controlled modification and direct characterization of multimode-fiber refractive-index profiles.

A combination of controlled annealing and characterization by scanning probe microscopy (SPM) is used to demonstrate that the refractive-index proffle of a commercially available silica-based optical fiber can be accurately reconfigured for use as an evanescent field sensor. The process relies on the controlled relocation of the silica glass dopants across the fiber cross section through heat treatment and the accurate measurement of the resulting dopant redistribution with SPM and differential etching techniques. The effect of variable annealing along a length of fiber is to produce a mode transformer to couple light from a laser source into the sensing region of the fiber.