Which are the differences between gold electrodes AT and BT?

The difference between AT and BT electrodes is that they are made with different kinds of gold screen-printing inks. AT ink is cured with a high temperature process (around 900ºC) whereas BT uses a low temperature process (around 150ºC). In the SEM micrographs of both models’ surfaces below, it can be noticed that BT models show a rougher surface due to the low temperature treatment.

 

We have these two kinds of gold in order to offer a wider electrochemical behaviour to researchers when it comes to gold electrodes. In other words, AT and BT models can show different or similar behaviour depending on the particular experiment i.e. they may have different or similar electrochemical properties depending on the redox system used. There are not defined criteria to describe the properties of each model because these properties depend on the sensor developed, on the electrodes and on the redox molecule tested. For example, ferricyanide shows better electron transfer on AT electrodes than on BT electrodes; also, in a general way we can say that AT models sometimes show better repeatability results, but customers often select BT models to develop biosensors on them. For these reasons, the best way to start working with these electrodes could be testing them and compare their characteristics for the specific application.

In order to find out which reference is more suitable to your concrete application, you can check the “Publication” section in our website or you can also acquire a box of ref. DRP-AUMIX, including a mix of gold electrodes of high and low temperature.