University of Florence

The group of Prof. Marco Mascini from the University of Florence produces screen printed electrodes (SPE) on a plastic base.

These SPE's have either a graphite working or a gold working electrode and a counter electrode and  silver reference electrode. A special disposable sensor is available for stripping voltammetric detection of heavy metals.

This group also developed a sensorarray which is formed by 8 three-electrodes electrochemical cells with graphite-based (FS-CArray) or gold-based (FS-AuArray) working electrodes. The graphite sensors can be used as a base for the development of various sensors and biosensors for analytical applications. The graphite surface of the working electrode can be modified through direct adsorption or through chemical binding a wide range of biomolecules can be linked to the electrode surface.

The sensorarrays are strips of 40 mm x 84 mm as dimension. The strips are used with PalmSens with CH8 multiplexer by means of a 24-pin connector.

An 8-holes methacrylate box (L x W x H=14 mm x 84 mm x 5 mm) is fixed onto the sensorstrip by using a double layer adhesive, allowing to produce an 8-cells electrochemical array.

The sensorstrips can be coupled with a special holding block with eight magnet bars to use it with magnetic beads.

These sensors and accessories can be obtained from Palm Instruments and are applied by means of dedicated cables.

Recently this group and the company EcoBioServices&Researches developed ready-to-use strips for the detection of photosynthetic inhibitors (herbicides and heavy metals). The instrument can be used in the laboratory as well as in the field.

Available documentation:
- Graphite sensors
- Gold sensors
- Sensor for heavy metal determination

Detection of photosynthetic inhibitors (herbicides and heavy metals):
- Brochure
- Procedure