Electrochemical detection of dopamine via assisted ion transfer at nanopipet electrode using cyclic voltammetry

We present here the detection of dopamine (DA) at nanopipet electrodes with radii of hundreds of nanometers ranging from 160 nm to 480 nm. Dibenzo-18-crown-6 (DB18C6) was employed as an ionophore to facilitate DA transfer, resulting in a half-wave transfer potential, E1/2, DA, of -0.322 (±0.020) V vs. E1/2, TBA. Well-defined steady-state sigmoidal cyclic voltammograms were observed for the transfer of DA. High resolution scanning electron microscopy was used to measure the size and taper angle of the nanopipet electrodes. The detection is linear with concentration of DA ranging from 0.25 mM to 2 mM; calculated diffusion coefficient at nanopipet electrodes with above mentioned sizes is 4.87 (±0.28) × 10^-10 m²/s. The effect of the common interferent ascorbic acid on DA detection with nanopipet electrodes was evaluated, where DA detection still shows linear behavior with well-defined sigmoidal CVs with E_1/2, DA being -0.328 (±0.029) V vs. E_1/2, TBA. The diffusion coefficient for DA transfer in MgCl₂ with the presence of 2 mM AA was measured to be 1.93 (±0.59) × 10^-10 m²/s on nanoelectrodes with radii from 161 nm to 263 nm, but the physiological concentration of 0.1 mM AA had no effect on DA's diffusion coefficient.