Investigation of polypyrrole/glucose oxidase electrodes by ellipsometric, microgravimetric and electrochemical measurements

We describe the simultaneous application of two in-situ techniques for the study of the electrochemical growth of a conducting polymer film (polypyrrole) in the presence of an enzyme (glucose oxidase). The combination of optical (ellipsometric) and microgravimetric (QCMB) measurements employed in this study provides information on fundamental properties of the enzyme-containing film, including film thickness, mass and density. Our results show that incorporation of the enzyme results in changes in the apparent optical properties and in the apparent density of the electrochemically grown film which suggest mutual stabilization of the polypyrrole and the enzyme in the composite layer.