Summary of recent progress with diamond electrodes in electroanalysis, spectroelectrochemistry and electrocatalysis

Electrically conducting diamond thin films show great promise as electrode materials, particularly in the field of electroanalysis. Some of the basic macroscopic electrochemical properties have been identified, but many aspects of the structure-reactivity relationship at the microscopic and nanoscopic levels remain to be discovered. This knowledge will allow one to understand better which factors influence the reactivity of these materials. We provide a summary herein of the basic electrochemical properties of boron-doped microcrystalline (nominal grain size of 1-5 μm) and nitrogen-incorporated nanocrystalline (nominal grain size of 5-20 nm) diamond thin film electrodes. In particular, we highlight some recent advances in the use of these materials in electroanalysis (e.g., the oxidative detection of aliphatic polyamines), spectroelectrochemistry (e.g., optically transparent electrodes in the visible region of the electromagnetic spectrum) and electrocatalysis (e.g., the incorporation of Pt nanoparticles into the surface microstructure).