Electrochemically pretreated carbon electrodes and their electroanalytical applications – A review

Electrochemical pretreatment is pulling the attention for the trace electroanalytical applications due to its simplicity, sensitivity, efficiency and low cost. Pretreatment is considered environment-friendly due to the less involvement of the hazardous chemicals compared to other tedious and complex modification materials. The electrochemical pretreatment process produces such transducers that display undistorted, well-defined and reproducible signals. The pretreatment of the carbon electrodes substantially improved the sensitivity and the selectivity of the sensors towards the targeted analytes by generating charge carrying functional groups on the carbon electrodes. This review article discourses the characteristics, pretreatment methodologies and recent developments in the electrochemical sensing of various analytes of prime importance such as drugs, neurotransmitters, and environmental pollutants. This review will help to further progress and exploration of more pretreatment procedures for the activation of the carbon electrodes for real electrifying applications.