Fabrication of Low-Cost and Customizable Planar Electrochemical Devices Using Multi-material 3D Printing and Platinum Leaves

This paper introduces a novel method for producing planar electrochemical devices by combining multi-material 3D printing with metal leaves (3D-MLEs). The fabrication process is based on the use of two polymeric materials, polylactic acid (PLA) and polycaprolactone (PCL), leveraging their different melting points. The approach exploits the thermoadhesive properties of polyesters, which can act as bonding layers upon heating, enabling a direct-writing and low-step fabrication strategy. The device was fabricated using a dual-extruder 3D printer to produce a PLA support containing PCL tracks, followed by selective thermal adhesion of the metal leaf onto the PCL. This process exploits the different melting temperatures of the two polymers: PCL softens and becomes adhesive at the selected temperature, while the PLA support remains structurally unaffected. A final brushing step enables the definition of a well-controlled three-electrode geometry. Following optimization of the fabrication parameters, a platinum leaf-based device (3D-PtLE) was assembled and evaluated using potassium hexacyanoferrate(II) and hexaammineruthenium(III) chloride as redox probes. The optimized device was subsequently applied to hydrogen peroxide detection in phosphate buffer (pH 7), exhibiting a linear response in the concentration range of 0.25–5 mM, with a limit of detection of 67 μM and good repeatability (RSD = 4.2%). The analytical applicability of the device was further demonstrated through the analysis of a real sample consisting of washing water prepared from a sodium percarbonate-based cleaning tablet, with good agreement (98 ± 6%) with the standard titration method. The proposed strategy provides a simple, low-cost, and customizable approach for fabricating planar electrochemical platforms based on pure metal electrodes, combining high analytical performance with straightforward manufacturing.