Abstract
Marked progress has been made in the development of membrane electrode in recent years. Several sensors based on inorganic, organic and bio-membrane electrode are available commercially and used in many fields. Various ion selective electrodes and biosensors have been developed for chemical analysis. In this paper, the biomimetic electrodes imitating biofunctions are described. There are three types of biomimetic membrane electrodes imitating the electron transfer system, photosynthesis system and nervous system.
The biomimetic membrane electrodes are applied to analysis, bioelectronic devices and energy conversion. The present author have developed the biomimetic electrode using copper-phthalocyanine. The sensor composed of oxygen electrode and copper-phthalocyanine membrane was applied to preliminaly screening of mutagens. The biomimetic electrode was also used for the detection of microorganisms. Cell number determination and classification were carried out with 4, 4'-bipyridine-modified graphite electrode by using cyclic voltammetry.
Thus, the biomimetic membrane electrode is promissing for detecting the materials which are not determined by ion selective electrodes and biosensors. They will also be employed for biochips and energy conversion.
