The electrooxidation of organic acids at boron-doped diamond electrodes

The electrooxidation of citric acid, malic acid, alanine and cysteine at boron-doped diamond (BDD) electrodes and glassy carbon (GC) electrodes was investigated by use of cyclic voltammetry. Well-defined, irreversible peaks were obtained for the oxidation of citric acid and cysteine. Malic acid and alanine exhibit discernible responses. This preliminary study has shown that BDD has better sensitivity than GC for these compounds. Except for cysteine, none of the studied compounds exhibits a recognizable oxidation peak at GC electrodes at millimolar concentration levels.