Surface modification of indium tin oxide films with Au ions implantation: Characterization and application in bioelectrochemistry

Indium tin oxide (ITO) thin film coated glass substrates have been implanted with 21 keV Au ions at a fluence of 1.0 × 1017 ions/cm2 at room temperature. The resulting gold film was characterized with X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS), X-ray diffraction (XRD), scanning electron microscopy (SEM), UV–Vis spectra and electrochemical methods. The results reveal that the implanted Au atoms were in the zero-valent metallic state and these Au atoms precipitated to form nanoclusters on the ITO surface whose average radius was estimated between 2 and 5 nm. The preferentially growing orientation was Au (111) plane during the formation process of gold film and the value of gold active surface area normalized by the geometric electrode areas was 0.48 for Au ion implanted ITO (Au/ITO) electrode. The potential utility of Au/ITO films was investigated. The Au/ITO electrode exhibited effective catalytic responses towards biomolecules such as ascorbic acid (AA) oxidation and lowered oxidation potential of AA by 0.6 V when compared with the bare ITO electrode. Myoglobin (Mb) was also successfully immobilized on the Au/ITO electrode and the direct electron transfer between proteins and electrode surface was realized. It was demonstrated that the Au/ITO film offered a favorable microenvironment for the orientation of biomolecules. New biomaterials with specific electrocatalytic and electrochemical features could be fabricated using this method.