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The development of high-performance, bespoke conductive filament is a challenge to overcome to increase the uptake of additive manufacturing electrochemistry. In this work we report the first conductive filament embedded with gold nanoparticles (AuNPs). This is achieved through the synthesis of AuNPs within castor oil (AuNP-CO), a recognised plasticiser used to fabricate bespoke conductive filaments. The presence of AuNPs in castor oil is first confirmed through UV–Vis and TEM measurements and after the AuNP-CO is utilised as a substitute for CO within a filament composition comprising of 25 wt% carbon black, 65 wt% recycled PLA and 10 wt% AuNP-CO. The inclusion of AuNP-CO provided both enhanced electrical properties, as well as low-temperature flexibility, without compromising on the thermal stability. This filament was shown to have excellent printability, with the presence of AuNPs confirmed on the surface of the additively manufactured electrodes. The electrodes containing AuNP-CO were benchmarked against only CO containing ones and a commercial alternative, whereby the AuNP-CO electrodes provided enhanced electrochemical performance toward both outer and inner sphere redox probes. Additionally, the AuNP-CO electrodes were shown to have significantly enhanced electroanalytical properties toward the detection of dopamine, showing double the sensitivity. We expect this first report of precious metal nanoparticle embedded conductive filament will broaden the scope of additive manufacturing in electrochemistry and significantly increase the potential for commercially viable products to emerge from this field.
Bernalte et al. (Mon,) studied this question.