Pin-Based Flow Injection Electroanalysis

This work describes the use of mass-fabricated stainless-steel pins as new low-cost electrodes for a flow injection analysis (FIA) system with electrochemical detection. The pins serving as electrodes are directly punched in the tubing where solutions flow, being one of the simplest flow cells for FIA. This cell consists of a carbon ink coated pin as working electrode and two bare pins as counter and reference electrodes. The pins are able to perform at least 300 measurements. Moreover, they can be easily replaced showing good repeatability and reproducibility (RSD lower than 6% in all the cases). As a proof-of-concept, the feasibility of the system to determine glucose was evaluated by an enzymatic assay using glucose oxidase, horseradish peroxidase, and ferrocyanide as electron-transfer mediator. The application of this system to real food samples has shown accurate results.