Microelectrochemical devices based on inorganic redox active material and method for sensing

Abstract

Novel microelectrochemical devices are provided which consist of closely spaced microelectrodes coated with metal ion based inorganic redox active material such as oxides or mixed oxides of any of the following transition metals: W, Ni, Ru, Co, Rh, Ir, Nb, Mo, V, or any other metal that undergoes a change in electrical conductivity upon electrochemical oxidation or reduction, in contact with an electrolyte. Additionally, other metal based redox materials whose conductivity changes as a function of the movement of ions into or out of the material can be used in the construction of microelectronic devices, for example, Prussian Blue, Fe.sub.4 [Fe(CH).sub.6 ].sub.3. "Metal ion-based microelectrochemical devices" encompasses all devices based on an inorganic redox active material which incorporate an active "gate" region or "channel", or exhibit rectification. Included in this classification are devices analogous to diodes, field effect transistors, p-n-p transistors, and n-p-n transistors, and pH sensors, among others. A number of specific examples of transistors and sensors are described in detail.

Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.