Carbon surface properties changed

On the other hand, irreversible changes in the PZC can be effected in some surfaces. The oxidation of carbon surfaces, for example, changes the PZC and does affect the adsorptive properties. Carbon will be discussed in a later section. 

These results indicate that the properties of the redox polymers, such as redox potentials and spectroscopic properties, can be varied systematically and, more importantly, can be predicted from those observed for mononuclear model compounds. As an example of the transfer of photochemical properties from monomeric analogues to the corresponding polymers, the photochemical behavior of the redox polymer [Ru(bpy)2(PVP)sCl]Cl will be considered. This polymer contains one metal center for every five-monomer units. Photolysis of a thin layer of this material on a glassy carbon surface leads to a change in the redox potential of the material from about 650 to 850 mV (See Figure 4.17) [32]. The voltammetric process affected is associated with a metal-center-based Ru(ll/m) redox process. By analogy to the behavior observed for the mononuclear species [Ru(bpy)2(py)Cl]+ (py = pyridine),... 

High quality IR spectra of different carbon surfaces were obtained by photo-thermal beam deflection spectroscopy (IR-PBDS) [123,124]. This technique was developed with the intention of providing an IR technique that could be used to study the surface properties of materials that are difficult or impossible to examine by conventional means. Recently, diffuse reflectance infrared Fourier transform spectroscopy (DRIFTS) has been successfully applied to study the effect of different pretreatments on the surface functional groups of carbon materials [101,125-128]. Several studies aiming to improve the characterization of the carbon electrode surface and the electrode-electrolyte interface have been carried out using various in situ IR techniques [14,128-132]. The development of in situ spec-troelectrochemical methods has made it possible to detect changes in the surface oxides in electrolyte solutions during electrochemical actions. 

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