Ferrocenium/ferrocene redox potential reference electrode

Other reference electrodes have been proposed for use in the nonaqueous solvents that are widely used in coordination chemistry. Their main advantage is that they allow one to work with a single solvent. Among these electrodes, the Ag+/Ag electrode is reversible in many solvents.4 Ag+ ions are introduced as salts, such as AgCl or AgBF4. However, the inner solution has to be refreshed due to the reactivity of Ag+. Another class consists of redox electrodes in which the two components are in solution, such as ferrocenium ion/ferrocene Fc+/Fc.5 Since the potential is dependent on the concentration ratio of the redox couple, this ratio must be kept constant. An attractive solution to prevent the use of a junction lies in the preparation of a functionalized-polymer coated electrode such as poly(vinylferrocene).6 The polymer is deposited by electrooxidation in its oxidized form, polyFc+, and then partially reduced to yield poly Fc+/Fc. Their use is limited by their relative stability in the different solvents. 

Choice of reference electrodes is one of the most important points in electrochemical measurements in ILs. The reference electrodes are required to show stable electrode potentials, which are usually determined by an equilibrium between reversible redox couples. The redox reaction between silver and silver cation, Ag/Ag(I), is often used as the redox couple for reference electrode in conventional nonaqueous electrolytes. The reference electrode based on Ag/Ag(l) has been also used in various ILs. However, the potentials of Ag/Ag(l) reference electrodes are different in different ILs since the Gibbs energy for formation of Ag(I) depends on the ions composing the ILs. Therefore, it is necessary to calibrate the potentials of reference electrodes against a conunon standard redox potential. A redox couple of ferrocenium (Fc" ) and ferrocene (Fc) is often used for this purpose although its redox potential is considered slightly dependent on BLs. Platinum or silver electrodes immersed in ILs are sometimes used as quasi-reference electrodes. The potentials of these quasi-reference electrodes may seem to be stable in the ILs without any redox species. However, their potentials are unstable and unreliable since they are not determined by any redox equilibrium. Thus, use of quasireference electrodes should be avoided even when the potentials are calibrated by Fc /Fc couple. 

There are two aspects to reference redox systems. One point is the possibility of compiling electrode potentials in a variety of solvents and solvent mixtures, which are not affected by unknown liquid junction potentials. Unfortunately very frequently aqueous reference electrodes are employed in electrochemical studies in nonaqueous electrolytes. Such data, however, include an unknown, irreproducible phase boundary potential. Electrode potentials of a redox couple measured in the same electrolyte together with the reference redox system constitute reproducible, thermodynamic data. In order to stop the proliferation of—in the view of the respective authors— better and better reference redox systems, the lUPAC recommended that either ferrocenium ion/ferrocene or bw(biphenyl)chromium(l)/te(biphenyl)chromium(0) be used as a reference redox system [5]. 

Table 3.1 Mid-point potentials of the ferrocene/ferrocenium redox process against different Ag-based reference electrodes...

Obtained in MeCN solution containing 0.1 mol dm-3 Bu°NBF4 as supporting electrolyte. Solutions were 1 x 1(T3 mol dm"3 in compound and potentials were determined with reference to an Ag/Ag+ electrode at 21 1°C, 50 mV s 1 scan rate. bEptk and represent the anodic and cathodic peak potentials. Cathodic shifts in the metallocene redox couples produced by the presence of anion (5 equiv) added as their tetrabutylammonium salts. As the concentration of the anion increased, the cathodic current peak potential of the ferrocene/ferrocenium redox couple began to exhibit the features of an EC mechanism. 

The basic concept of the most common form of electrochemical investigation of the redox chemistry of a coordination compound is that voltammetric data are initially collected and a mechanism for the half-cell reaction that occurs at the working electrode is postulated. A simple process, often used as a voltammetric reference potential standard, would be (Equation (1)) oxidation of ferrocene (Fc) to the ferrocenium cation (Fc ) in an organic solvent (acetonitrile, dichloromethane, etc.) containing 0.1 M of an electrolyte such as BU4NPF6 (added to lower the resistance) ... 

---