A porous microneedle electrochemical glucose sensor fabricated on a scaffold of a polymer monolith

Porous microneedle electrodes with pores of similar to 1 mu m diameter were fabricated by electroless plating of nickel followed by gold on a polymer monolith of poly(glycidyl methacrylate). The specific surface area of the fabricated electrode evaluated by the Brunauer-Emmett-Teller method was 2.559 +/- 0.050 m(2) g(-1) (standard error of mean), while that of the non-porous control was mu A mM(-1), and that of the non-porous control was 3.16 +/- 0.56 mu A mM(-1). The amperometry of glucose concentration in solution was demonstrated using the fabricated electrode as a working electrode, along with an Ag/AgCl reference electrode and gold counter electrode both of which were made of microneedles. These results indicate the advantages of porous structures for electrochemical sensing with increased sensitivity.