Electrochemical properties of platinum electrodes in vitro: comparison of six different surface qualities.

Platinum serves as electrode material since several decades because of its excellent corrosion resistance and acceptable phase boundary impedance and charge injection capacity. Here, we investigate how the electrochemical performance of platinum is improved by different methods of surface roughening. By using a small signal model, it was calculated that - depending on the surface treatment - the effective electrode surface can be enlarged by a factor of 76. However, pulse tests indicate for the identical electrode treatment an increase in charge injection capacitance by a factor of only 11.