Electrochemical Oxidation of Methionine Mediated by a Fullerene‐C60 Modified Gold Electrode

The usefulness of a C₆₀‐fullerene modified gold (Au) electrode in mediating the oxidation of methionine in the presence of potassium ions electrolyte has been demonstrated. During cyclic voltammetry, an oxidation peak of methionine appearing at +1.0 V vs. Ag/AgCl was observed. The oxidation current of methionine is enhanced by about 2 times using a C₆₀ modified gold electrode. The current enhancement is significantly dependent on pH, temperature and C₆₀ dosage. Calibration plot reveals linearity of up to 0.1 mM with a current sensitivity of close to 50 mA L mol^?1 and detection limit of 8.2×10^?6 M. The variation of scan rate study shows that the system undergoes diffusion‐controlled process. Diffusion coefficient and rate constant of methionine were determined using hydrodynamic method (rotating disk electrode) with values of 1.11×10^?5 cm² s^?1 and 0.0026 cm s^?1 respectively for unmodified electrode while the values of diffusion coefficient and rate constant of methionine using C₆₀ modified Au electrode are 5.7×10^?6 cm² s^?1 and 0.0021 cm s^?1 respectively.     

Ozone reduction at Nafion modified Au electrode and the measurement of ozone concentration in highly resistive solutions

The mass transport and charge transfer kinetics of ozone reduction at Nafion coated Au electrodes were studied in 0.5 mol/L H2SO4 and highly resistive solutions such as distilled water and tap water. The diffusion coefficient and partition coefficient of ozone in Nafion coating are 1.78×10-6 cm2·s-1 and 2.75 at 25℃ (based on dry state thickness), respectively. The heterogeneous rate constants and Tafel slopes for ozone reduction at bare Au are 4.1×10-6 cm·s-1, 1.0×10-6 cm·s-1 and 181 mV, 207 mV in 0.5 mol/L H2SO4 and distilled water respectively and the corresponding values for Nafion coated Au are 5.5×10-6 cm·s-1, 1.1×10-6 cm·s-1 and 182 mV, 168 mV respectively. The Au microelectrode with 3 μm Nafion coating shows good linearity over the range 0-10 mmol/L ozone in distilled water with sensitivity 61 μA·ppm-1 ·cm-2, detection limit 10 ppb and 95% response time below 5 s at 25℃. The temperature coefficient in range of 11-30℃ is 1.3%.     

Electroconductive Hydrogels: Electrical and Electrochemical Properties of Polypyrrole‐Poly(HEMA) Composites

Composites of inherently conductive polypyrrole (PPy) within highly hydrophilic poly(2‐hydroxyethyl methacrylate)‐based hydrogels (p(HEMA)) have been fabricated and their electrochemical properties investigated. The electrochemical characteristics observed by cyclic voltammetry suggest less facile reduction of PPy within the composite hydrogel compared to electropolymerized PPy, as shown by the shift in the reduction peak potential from ?472 mV for electropolymerized polypyrrole to ?636 mV for the electroconductive composite gel. The network impedance magnitude for the electroconductive hydrogel remains quite low, ca. 100 Ω, even upon approach to DC, over all frequencies and at all offset potentials suggesting retained electronic (bipolaronic) conductivity within the composite. In contrast, sustained application of +0.7 V (vs. Ag/AgCl, 3 M Cl^?) for typically 100 min. (conditioning) to reduce the background amperometric current to <1.0 μA, resulted in complete loss of electroactivity. Nyquist plots suggest that sustained application of such a modest potential to the composite hydrogel results in impedance characteristics that resembles p(HEMA) without evidence of the conducting polymer component. PPy composite gels supported a larger ferrocene monocarboxylate diffusivity (D_appt=7.97×10^?5 cm² s^?1) compared to electropolymerized PPy (D_appt=5.56×10^?5 cm² s^?1), however a marked reduction in diffusivity (D_appt=1.01×10^?5 cm² s^?1) was observed with the conditioned hydrogel composite. Cyclic voltammograms in buffer containing H₂O₂ showed an absence of redox peaks for electrodes coated with PPy‐containing membranes, suggesting possible chemical oxidation of polypyrrole by the oxidant     

Stable and Highly Efficient Electrochemical Production of Formic Acid from Carbon Dioxide Using Diamond Electrodes

High faradaic efficiencies can be achieved in the production of formic acid (HCOOH) by metal electrodes, such as Sn or Pb, in the electrochemical reduction of carbon dioxide (CO₂). However, the stability and environmental load in using them are problematic. The electrochemical reduction of CO₂ to HCOOH was investigated in a flow cell using boron‐doped diamond (BDD) electrodes. BDD electrodes have superior electrochemical properties to metal electrodes, and, moreover, are highly durable. The faradaic efficiency for the production of HCOOH was as high as 94.7 %. Furthermore, the selectivity for the production of HCOOH was more than 99 %. The rate of the production was increased to 473 μmol m^?2 s^?1 at a current density of 15 mA cm^?2 with a faradaic efficiency of 61 %. The faradaic efficiency and the production rate are almost the same as or larger than those achieved using Sn and Pb electrodes. Furthermore, the stability of the BDD electrodes was confirmed by 24 h operation.     

Bioactive Hydrogel Layers on Microdisk Electrode Arrays: Cyclic Voltammetry Experiments and Simulations

Poly(hydroxyethylmethacrylate)‐based hydrogel membranes were applied to microfabricated, microdisk electrode arrays (MDEAs) of 50 μm (5184 disks), 100 μm (1296 disks) and 250 μm (207 disks) (d/r=4; A= 0.1 cm²) and studied by cyclic voltammetry (CV) in 1.0 mM ferrocene monocarboxylic acid (FcCO₂H). The membrane produced an order of magnitude decrease in current densities and a shift to quasi reversibility due to a decrease in the D_appt of FcCO₂H, from 4.51×10^?6 cm² s^?1 to 1.42×10^?8 cm² s^?1, (2.18×10^?8 cm² s^?1 from release experiments). The MDEA050 (comprising 50 μm disks) maintained its enhanced current density attributes confirming its value as an effective electrode for biosensors. Finite element modeling (FEM) simulations successfully replicated the voltammograms of the MDEAs.     

Improving fast atom bombardment mass spectra: The influence of some controllable parameters on spectral quality

The relative effects of adjustable fast atom bombardment (FAB) parameters (choice of matrix, primary atom flux, and primary atom energy) on the appearance of FAB spectra (including signal-to-noise, signal-to-background, and signal-to-matrix ratios) of several organic dyes have been investigated. Beam-induced chemical damage is minimized by lowering the primary atom flux, by raising the primary atom energy, and by selecting a matrix with radical scavenging properties (e.g., m-nitrobenzyl alcohol). The relative importance in minimizing this chemical damage is choice of matrix > primary atom flux > (nominal) primary atom energy, but optimization of the parameters involves a trade-off between sensitivity and damage. The effect of these parameters on thermal damage (fragmentation) is much less. It can be concluded from comparison of the dyes that the extent of beam damage does not depend simply on the standard reduction potential of the analyte.     

Two‐Step direct arylation for synthesis of naphthalenediimide‐based conjugated polymer

A naphthalenediimide (NDI)‐based conjugated polymer was synthesized by a two‐step direct C‐H arylation sequence. In the first step, two ethylenedioxythiophene units were coupled to NDI by direct arylation. In the second step, the direct arylation polycondensation of the monomer, formed in the first step, with 2,7‐dibromo‐9,9‐dioctylfluorene afforded the corresponding NDI‐based conjugated polymer ( PEDOTNDIF ) with molecular weight of 21,500 in 91% yield. The optical and electrochemical properties of the polymer were evaluated. The polymer showed ambipolar behavior in organic field‐effect transistors (OFETs). The electron mobility of PEDOTNDIF was estimated to be 2.3 × 10^?6 cm² V^?1 s^?1 using an OFET device with source‐drain (S‐D) Au electrodes. A modified OFET device with S‐D MgAg electrodes increased the electron mobility for PEDOTNDIF to 1.0 × 10^?5 cm² V^?1 s^?1 due to the more suitable work function of these electrodes, which reduced the injection barrier to the semiconducting polymer. © 2014 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J. Polym. Sci., Part A: Polym. Chem. 2014 , 52, 1401–1407     

Thin-layer spectroelectrochemical kinetic study of viologen cation radicals reacting at hydrogen-evolving gold and nickel electrodes

The kinetics of viologen cation radicals reacting at hydrogen-evolving gold and nickel electrodes in pH 6–8 electrolytes have been investigated. Visible absorption spectroscopy was used to follow the course of the reaction in an optically transparent thin-layer electrochemical cell under quasi-steady-state conditions. The spectroelectrochemical data were analyzed using classical kinetics and yielded zero-order behavior with respect to the viologen cation radical. For methyl viologen cation radical at gold, a formal zero-order rate constant evaluated at zero hydrogen overpotential was found to be 1.0 × 10^?13 mol s^?1 cm^?2. At nickel the comparable rate constant was nearly two orders of magnitude larger than at gold. Increasing pH from 6 to 8 at gold electrodes shifted both the hydrogen evolution and the methyl viologen cation radical reaction 60–70 mV/pH unit in a negative direction. The diquat cation radical behaved in a similar manner. The proposed mechanism involves a fast, non-rate-limiting, chemical reaction between the viologen cation radical and adsorbed hydrogen atom(s). Results are interpreted in terms of previous proposed hydrogen evolution reaction mechanisms.     

Studies on the reaction N + N3 → N2(B 3Πg) + N2(X 1Σ+g)

Strongly enhanced N₂ first positive emission N₂(B ³Π_g → A ³Σ⁺_u) has been observed on addition of N atoms into a flowing mixture of Cl and HN₃. The dependence of the emission intensity on N atom concentration gave a rate constant for the reaction N + N₃ → N₂(B ³Π_g) + N₂(X ¹Σ⁺_g) of _i(1.6 ± 1.1) × 10^?11 cm³ molecule^?1 s^?1. That for the reaction Cl + HN₃ → HCl + N₃ is (8.9 ± 1.0) × 10^?13 cm³ molecule^?1 s^?1 from the decay of the emission. Comparison of the emission intensity in ClHN₃ with that in ClHN₃N gave the rate constant of the reaction N₃ + N₃ → N₂(B ³Π_g) + 2N₂(X ¹Σ⁺_g) as 1.4 × 10^?12 cm³ molecule^?1 s^?1 on the assumption that N + N₃ yields only N₂(B ³Π_g) + N₂(X ¹Σ⁺_g).     

Space charge influenced photocurrent transients in fluid solution

The dependence of space charge influenced current transients on the spatial distribution of photogenerated carriers in the bulk of a conductivity cell was investigated with the aim of correlating the observed time evolution of the currents with carrier properties such as mobilities and recombination constant. Approximate analytical solutions for the limiting cases of sheet and full interelectrode illumination show how experimental transients result from the competition between the dynamically interdependent processes: interionic recombination, charge carrier migration and discharge at the electrodes, and space charge buil-up. The voltage dependence of the time at which the secondary photocurrent maxima are observed yield mobilities of 2.0 × 10^?4 and 2.8 × 10^?3 cm² V^?1 s^?1 respectively for the pyrene cation and the solvated electron in tetrahydrofuran at room temperature. A bimolecular recombination rate constant of 2.3 × 10^?9 cm³ s^?1 is shown to be consistent with the space charge densities present after total separation of the positive and negative carriers for various periods of charge carrier recombination.     

Hydrothermal Synthesis of Titanium‐Supported Nickel Nanoflakes for Electrochemical Oxidation of Glucose

Titanium‐supported nanoscale flaky nickel electrode (nanoNi/Ti) was prepared by a hydrothermal process using hydrazine hydrate as a reduction agent. Its electrocatalytic activity as an electrocatalyst for the electrooxidation of glucose was evaluated in alkaline solutions using cyclic voltammetry (CV), chronoamperometric responses (CA) and electrochemical impedance spectra (EIS). The nanoNi/Ti electrode exhibits significantly high current density of glucose oxidation. A high catalytic rate constant of 1.67×10⁶ cm³ mol^?1 s^?1 was calculated from amperometric responses on the nanoNi/Ti electrode. Low charge transfer resistances on the nanoNi/Ti in 0.5 M NaOH containing various concentrations of glucose were obtained according to the analysis for EIS. Furthermore, amperometric data show a linear dependence of the current density for glucose oxidation upon glucose concentration in the range of 0.05–0.6 mM with a sensitivity of 7.32 mA cm^?2 mM^?1. A detection limit of 0.0012 mM (1.2 μM) M glucose was found. Results show that the prepared nanoNi/Ti electrode presents high electrocatalytic activity for glucose oxidation.     

Kinetics of OH reactions with aliphatic thiols

The kinetics of OH reactions with 1–4 carbon aliphatic thiols have been investigated over the temperature range 252–430 K. OH radicals were produced by flash photolysis of water vapor at λ > 165 nm and detected by time-resolved resonance fluorescence spectroscopy. All thiols investigated react with OH at nearly the same rate; k(298 K) = 3.2–4.6 × 10^?11 cm³ molecule^?1 s^?1, -E_act = 0.6–1.0 kcal/mol, A = 0.6–1.2 × 10^?11 cm³ molecule^?1 s^?1. CH₃SH and CH₃SD react with OH at identical rates over the entire temperature range investigated. We conclude that the dominant reaction pathway is addition to the sulfur atom.     

Electrocatalytic studies of covalently immobilized metal tetra-amino phthalocyanines onto derivatized screen-printed gold electrodes

Metal tetra-amino phthalocyanine complexes (MTAPc; where M is Co or Mn) were immobilized on screen-printed gold electrodes pre-modified with monolayers of benzylamino groups. The functionalized electrodes were then activated using benzene-1,4-dicarbaldehyde as a linker before MTAPc complexes were immobilized. The surface coverages for the modified electrodes confirmed the perpendicular orientation of the MTAPcs. The apparent electron transfer constant (k_app) for the electrodes is 2.2?×?10^?5 cm.s^?1 for both CoTAPc and MnTAPc modified electrodes as calculated with data from impedance measurements. The k_app values for the bare and benzylamino modified electrodes were found to be 1.2?×?10^?4 cm.s^?1 and 4.9?×?10^?6 cm.s^?1, respectively. The electrocatalysis of the modified electrodes towards detection of H₂O₂ gave significant peak current densities and electrocatalytic potentials at ?0.28 V and ?0.31 V for the MnTAPc and CoTAPc modified electrodes, respectively.     

Photocurrent kinetics at the electron emission from a metal into electrolyte solution: Part II. Solutions without acceptors and solutions of N2O,NO2−, NO3−

A method of measuring the kinetics of currents arising at the electron photoemission from a metal into electrolyte solution when affected by the u.v. laser pulses for 10^?8 s at the frequency of repetitions 10–25 Hz is described. Measurements have been taken in solutions without acceptors and in those containing N₂O and NO₂^?, NO₃^? ions as electron acceptors. The rate constants of capture of the solvated electrons by N₂O ((6±1)×0⁹ mol^?1 s^?1) and NO₂^? ((4.5±1)×10⁹ mol^?1 s^?1) and the diffusion coefficients of OH-radicals ((1.0±0.3)×10^?5 cm² s^?1) and of NO ((1.2±0.3)×10^?5 cm² s^?1) are found. The oxidation rate of NO₃^2? has been shown to decrease from 40 cm s^?1 in the range of potentials ?0.55 to ?1.0 V. The rate constant of bimolecular recombination of the solvated electrons ((1.3±0.4)×10¹⁰ mol^?1 s^?1) has been found from the dependence of the emitted charge on the light intensity.     

High electro-catalytic graphite felt/MnO<Subscript>2</Subscript> composite electrodes for vanadium redox flow batteries

A mild and simple synthesis process for large-scale vanadium redox flow batteries (VRFBs) energy storage systems is desirable. A graphite felt/MnO₂ (GF-MNO) composite electrode with excellent electrocatalytic activity towards VO²⁺/VO₂⁺ redox couples in a VRFB was synthesized by a one-step hydrothermal process. The resulting GF-MNO electrodes possess improved electrochemical kinetic reversibility of the vanadium redox reactions compared to pristine GF electrodes, and the corresponding energy efficiency and discharge capacity at 150 mA cm^?2 are increased by 12.5% and 40%, respectively. The discharge capacity is maintained at 4.8 A h L^?1 at the ultrahigh current density of 250 mA cm^?2. Above all, 80% of the energy efficiency of the GFMNO composite electrodes is retained after 120 charge-discharge cycles at 150 mA cm^?2. Furthermore, these electrodes demonstrated that more evenly distributed catalytic active sites were obtained from the MnO₂ particles under acidic conditions. The proposed synthetic route is facile, and the raw materials are low cost and environmentally friendly. Therefore, these novel GFMNO electrodes hold great promise in large-scale vanadium redox flow battery energy storage systems.     

Interpretation of the optical dephasing time and lineshape function in the S0 → T1 exciton transitions of 1,4-dibromonaphthalene

The lineshape function for the S₀ → T₁ absorption in 1,4-dibromonaphthalene (DBN) is analyzed in terms of exchange theory. It is shown that the dominant optical dephasing mechanism for the electric dipole transition to the k = 0 state in the band results from the absorption and emission of a low energy optic phonon. This process dephases the optical absorption because of frequency differences of the phonon in the ground and excited state. In addition, it is shown how to extract the energy of the phonon responsible for dephasing, the phonon absorption rate, and the lifetime in the phonon promoted state from the data. The analysis of the data for DBN shows that very little dephasing of the optical transition occurs before ≈ 15 K but from 15 K to ≈ 40 K the singlet-triplet transitions to site I (20192 cm^?1) and site II (20245 cm^?1) are dephased by absorption and emission of an ≈ 38 cm^?1 and 45 cm^?1 phonon respectively. The phonon absorption rates by the k = 0 state in the exciton band are similar for both sites being 5 × 10⁶ s^?1 and 3 × 10⁵ s^?1 at 4 K and 7 × 10¹¹ s^?1 and 4 × 10¹¹ s^?1 at 30 K for site I and II respectively. Finally, the lifetimes in the phonon promoted state for sites I and II are 0.23 and 0.28 ps over the range 15–40 K.     

Electro-Catalytic Oxidation of Ascorbic Acid at a Cobalt-Salen Polymer Modified Electrode and Analytical Applications

ABSTRACT

The preparation and electrochemical characteristics of electrodes modified by cobalt complexes of N, N' - bis(salicylidene)-ethane -1, 2- diamine (salen) are described. A cobalt-salen polymer film modified electrode has strong electro-catalytic effects for the oxidation of ascorbic acid. The anodic peak potential of ascorbic acid shifted negatively for 400 m V. The catalytic reaction rate constant determined by rotating disk experiments is 7.08×10⁵ mol s^?1 cm^3. The catalytic mechanism and the effect of film thickness are discussed. A sensitive voltammetric response for ascorbic acid was obtained covering a linear range from 1.0×10^?6 to 1.0×10^?3 mol-L^?1 The modified electrode showed good stability and reproducibility. The electrode was used to the determination of ascorbic acid in fruit juices and showed promising results compared with conventional methods. The electro-catalytic effect of several metal-salen complexes and a similar Schiff base derivative for ascorbic acid was compared.     

Direct electrochemistry and bioelectrocatalysis of a class II non-symbiotic plant haemoglobin immobilised on screen-printed carbon electrodes

In this study, direct electron transfer (ET) has been achieved between an immobilised non-symbiotic plant haemoglobin class II from Beta vulgaris (nsBvHb2) and three different screen-printed carbon electrodes based on graphite (SPCE), multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNT-SPCE), and single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNT-SPCE) without the aid of any electron mediator. The nsBvHb2 modified electrodes were studied with cyclic voltammetry (CV) and also when placed in a wall-jet flow through cell for their electrocatalytic properties for reduction of H₂O₂. The immobilised nsBvHb2 displayed a couple of stable and well-defined redox peaks with a formal potential (E°′) of ?33.5 mV (vs. Ag|AgCl|3 M KCl) at pH 7.4. The ET rate constant of nsBvHb2, k _s, was also determined at the surface of the three types of electrodes in phosphate buffer solution pH 7.4, and was found to be 0.50 s^?1 on SPCE, 2.78 s^?1 on MWCNT-SPCE and 4.06 s^?1 on SWCNT-SPCE, respectively. The average surface coverage of electrochemically active nsBvHb2 immobilised on the SPCEs, MWCNT-SPCEs and SWCNT-SPCEs obtained was 2.85?×?10^?10 mol cm^?2, 4.13?×?10^?10 mol cm^?2 and 5.20?×?10^?10 mol cm^?2. During the experiments the immobilised nsBvHb2 was stable and kept its electrochemical and catalytic activities. The nsBvHb2 modified electrodes also displayed an excellent response to the reduction of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) with a linear detection range from 1 μM to 1000 μM on the surface of SPCEs, from 0.5 μM to 1000 μM on MWCNT-SPCEs, and from 0.1 μM to 1000 μM on SWCNT-SPCEs. The lower limit of detection was 0.8 μM, 0.4 μM and 0.1 μM at 3σ at the SPCEs, the MWCNT-SPCEs, and the SWCNT-SPCEs, respectively, and the apparent Michaelis–Menten constant, $ {\hbox{K}}_{\rm{M}}^{\rm{app}} $ , for the H₂O₂ sensors was estimated to be 0.32 mM , 0.29 mM and 0.27 mM, respectively.     

Mutual annihilation of triplet excitons in a nearly one-dimensional system: 1,4-dibromonaphthalene

The analysis of the variation with incident flux of the time dependence of the delayed fluorescence in conjunction with the determination of the absolute ground state-first excited triplet absorption coefficients at room temperature, yields the value of γ_tot = (5.5 ± 2.0) × 10^?12 cm³ s^?1, for the total triplet-triplet annihilation rate constant in 1,4-dibromonaphthalene crystals. The one-dimensional mutual annihilation rate constant for the triplet exciton motion restricted to linear chains along the crystal c axis is γ¹_tot = (1.0 ± 0.4) × 10³ cm s^?1. The results are discussed in terms of recent theories of mutual annihilation of triplets in one-dimensional systems.     

Highly Ordered TiO2 Nanotubes for Electrochemical Sensing of Hair Dye Basic Brown 17

Self‐organized Ti/TiO₂ nanotubular array electrodes were prepared by electrochemical anodization and used to monitor the reduction of the hair dye basic brown 17 (BB17) at a potential of ?0.60 V vs. Ag/AgCl. Analytical curves were obtained from 1.0×10^?6 to 8.0×10^?5 mol L^?1 with a detection limit of 1.3×10^?7 mol L^?1 by using the best experimental conditions, linear scan voltammetry at pH 6, scan rate=60 mV s^?1, and accumulation time=5 min. The detection system performance was not interfered by other hair dyes and successfully used to determine the dye in tap water samples.