Boron doped diamond (BDD) electrodes became a well-established tool in electroanalysis of oxidizable organic compounds; nevertheless their possibilities in electroanalysis of reducible compounds remain relatively unexploited. Thus, in this study the influence of the presence of oxygen, electrode pretreatment, and activation between individual scans for electroreduction of tartrazine and allura red (azo group), 5-nitroquinoline (nitro group and N-heterocycle), vanillin (aromatic aldehyde), and azidothymidine (azide group) using batch voltammetry was tested.
Further, the effect of boron concentration in BDD films on the width of potential window in aqueous media was investigated. Sufficient boron-doping level is required (B/C ratio during BDD deposition procedure. 2000 ppm) to obtain well developed voltammetric signals despite the fact that the width of the potential window in the cathodic region increases with decreasing boron content.