Investigation of the Role of Ionic Liquids in Imparting Electrocatalytic Behavior to Carbon Paste Electrode

In this paper, a survey has been undertaken to clarify the possible reasons for the electrocatalytic activity obtained by the presence of ionic liquid in carbon paste electrode (CPE). For this purpose, the effect of the addition of traces of ionic liquid to conventional CPE was investigated. Fe(CN)₆^3?/4? was used as a probe and two ionic liquids, namely n‐octylpyridinum hexafluorophosphate and 1‐octyl‐3‐methylimidazolium hexaflourophosphate were tested for their electrocatalytic activity. The reasons for this electrocatalytic behavior were evaluated and it was found that different factors such as increase in the ionic conduction of the binder, decrease in the resistance of the modified electrode, increase in ion exchange properties of the electrode and the inherent catalytic activity of ionic liquids are responsible for the considerable improved electrochemical response obtained in the presence of traces of ionic liquid.