Electrochemistry conducting polymer-based

The presence of polymer, solvent, and ionic components in conducting polymers reminds one of the composition of the materials chosen by nature to produce muscles, neurons, and skin in living creatures. We will describe here some devices ready for commercial applications, such as artificial muscles, smart windows, or smart membranes other industrial products such as polymeric batteries or smart mirrors and processes and devices under development, such as biocompatible nervous system interfaces, smart membranes, and electron-ion transducers, all of them based on the electrochemical behavior of electrodes that are three dimensional at the molecular level. During the discussion we will emphasize the analogies between these electrochemical systems and analogous biological systems. Our aim is to introduce an electrochemistry for conducting polymers, and by extension, for any electrodic process where the structure of the electrode is taken into account. 

Nitration of the surface of polypyrrole and the subsequent reduction of the nitrate groups has been reported [244] and Bidan et al. [306, 307] have investigated the electrochemistry of a number of polymers based on pyrroles with /V-substituents which are themselves electrochemically active. Polypyrrole has also been successfully deposited onto polymeric films of ruthenium complexes [387], and has been used as an electrode for the deposition and stripping of mercury [388], As with most conducting polymers, several papers have also appeared on the use of polypyrrole in battery systems (e.g. [327, 389] and Ref. therein). 

In recent years the electrochemistry of the enzyme membrane has been a subject of great interest due to its significance in both theories and practical applications to biosensors (i-5). Since the enzyme electrode was first proposed and prepared by Clark et al. (6) and Updike et al. (7), enzyme-based biosensors have become a widely interested research field. Research efforts have been directed toward improved designs of the electrode and the necessary membrane materials required for the proper operation of sensors. Different methods have been developed for immobilizing the enzyme on the electrode surface, such as covalent and adsorptive couplings (8-12) of the enzymes to the electrode surface, entrapment of the enzymes in the carbon paste mixture (13 etc. The entrapment of the enzyme into a conducting polymer has become an attractive method (14-22) because of the conducting nature of the polymer matrix and of the easy preparation procedure of the enzyme electrode. The entrapment of enzymes in the polypyrrole film provides a simple way of enzyme immobilization for the construction of a biosensor. It is known that the PPy-... 

Other Applications of Electronically Conducting Polymers. Future applications of electrochemistry in clean energy systems (based on solar light or chemically stimulated nuclear changes) seem possible. A major difficulty so far has been the expense of the materials. In this area, one of the initial studies involving... 

Arjsiriwat S, Tanticharoen M, Kirtikara Aoki K et al. Metal-dispersed conducting polymer-coated electrode used for oxidase based biosensor. Electrochemistry Communications 2000 2 441-444. 

Ionic conductivity in polymer-based, water-containing, solid systems has been with us for a long time. A review of that history, which is intimately associated with the history of analytical electrochemistry and the physical chemistry of electrolyte solutions, will help to put the present work into perspective. 

Ge, D., et al. (2010). A self-powered and thermally-responsive drug delivery system based on conducting polymers. Electrochemistry Communications, 12(S), 1087-1090. 

H. Devices Based on the Electrochemistry of Conducting Polymer Films... 

Principles and Characteristics A substantial percentage of chemical analyses are based on electrochemistry, although this is less evident for polymer/additive analysis. In its application to analytical chemistry, electrochemistry involves the measurement of some electrical property in relation to the concentration of a particular chemical species. The electrical properties that are most commonly measured are potential or voltage, current, resistance or conductance charge or capacity, or combinations of these. Often, a material conversion is involved and therefore so are separation processes, which take place when electrons participate on the surface of electrodes, such as in polarography. Electrochemical analysis also comprises currentless methods, such as potentiometry, including the use of ion-selective electrodes. 

As intensive studies on the ECPs have been carried out for almost 30 years, a vast knowledge of the methods of preparation and the physico-chemical properties of these materials has accumulated [5-17]. The electrochemistry ofthe ECPs has been systematically and repeatedly reviewed, covering many different and important topics such as electrosynthesis, the elucidation of mechanisms and kinetics of the doping processes in ECPs, the establishment and utilization of structure-property relationships, as well as a great variety of their applications as novel electrochemical systems, and so forth [18-23]. In this chapter, a classification is proposed for electroactive polymers and ion-insertion inorganic hosts, emphasizing the unique feature of ECPs as mixed electronic-ionic conductors. The analysis of thermodynamic and kinetic properties of ECP electrodes presented here is based on a combined consideration of the potential-dependent differential capacitance of the electrode, chemical diffusion coefficients, and the partial conductivities of related electronic and ionic charge carriers. 

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