Cyclic voltammetry swelling

Cyclic voltammetric behaviour of redox polymers including PVF has been studied previously in acetonitrile and in water solutions [18]. In acetonitrile, PVF exhibits stable, symmetrically shaped cyclic voltammetry peaks at potentials characteristic of oxidation and re-reduction of ferrocene sites in the polymer film. In aqueous electrolyte solutions, non-symmetrical peaks are evident in both anodic and cathodic branches. Differences in PVF behaviour in the two solvents have been attributed to solvent uptake in the polymer film (lower for aqueous solutions), changes in site-site interaction parameters for the polymer film (attractive for aqueous electrolytes and repulsive for acetonitrile electrolytes), and differences in deswelling processes in aqueous solution in the reduction half of the cycle as compared with the oxidation half (Figure 2.4). Acetonitrile is a better swelling solvent for PVF than water [18] and break in of the spin-coated films usually requires more cycling in water than in acetonitrile. 

These studies can successfully be done by utilizing methods of electrochemistry, more specifically, cyclic voltammetry [12]. Following a few potential cycles, voltammograms characteristic of the steady state and of the total electrochemical activity take shape. These are indicators of the saturation concentration of dissolved molecules within the film, representing the result of wetting, hydratation, swelling, and liosorption - to be summarized as break-in. 

Cyclic voltammetry offers a special possibility to study the permeability of thin clay films using clay-modified electrodes. The kinetics of the break-in/leach-out (hydration-dehydration, swelling-shrinking) processes depends on the structure of the porous aerogel hydrogel and on the layer thickness of the film. The rate constants of structure-dependent macrodiffusion and microdiffusion can be calculated, and to the best of our knowledge - this cyclic voltammetric determination of rate constants of the elementary processes is unique in the literature. 

Han and coworkers [38] determined the phase behavior of the ternary system consisting of [bmim][PFJ,TX-100, and water at 25 °C. By cyclic voltammetry method using potassium ferrocyanide, K Fe(CN)g, as the electroactive probe, the water-in-[bmim][PFJ, bicontinuous, and [bmim][PFJ-in-water microregions of the microemulsions were identified (Fig. 16.7). The hydrodynamic diameter of the [bmim] [PFJ-in-water microemulsions is nearly independent of the water content bnt increases with increasing [bmim] [PF ] content due to the swelling of the micelles by the IL. Sarkar and coworkers [39-41] reported the solvent and rotational relaxation studies in [bmim][PFJ-in-water microemulsions and water-in-[bmim][PFJ microemulsions using different types of probes, coumarin 153 (C-153), coumarin 151 (C-151), and coumarin 490 (C-490). The solvent relaxation time is retarded in the IL-in-water microemulsion compared to that of a neat solvent. The retardation of solvation time of water in the core of the water-in-IL microemulsion is several thousand times compared to pnre water. Nozaki and coworkers [42] reported a broadband dielectric spectroscopy study on a microemnlsion composed of water. 

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