Polymer films electrochemistry

These facts are different demonstrations of the same event degradation reactions occur simultaneously with electropolymerization.49-59 These reactions had also been called overoxidation in the literature. The concept is well established in polymer science and consists of those reactions between the pristine polymer and the ambient that promote a deterioration of the original polymeric properties. The electrochemical consequence of a strong degradation is a passivation of the film through a decrease in the electrical conductivity that allows a lower current flow at the same potential than the pristine and nondegraded polymer film did. Passivation is also a well-established concept in the electrochemistry of oxide films or electropainting. 

It is now 20 years since the first report on the electrochemistry of an electrode coated with a conducting polymer film.1 The thousands of subsequent papers have revealed a complex mosaic of behaviors arising from the multiple redox potentials and the large changes in conductivity and ion-exchange properties that accompany their electrochemistry. 

The electrochemistry of conducting polymers has been the subject of several reviews2-8 and has been included in articles on chemically modified electrodes.9-14 The primary purpose of this chapter is to review fundamental aspects of the electrochemistry of conducting polymer films. Applications, the diversity of materials available, and synthetic methods are not covered in any detail. No attempt has been made at a comprehensive coverage of the relevant literature and the materials that have been studied. Specific examples have been selected to illustrate general principles, and so it can often be assumed that other materials will behave similarly. 

The electrochemistry of conducting polymer films involves ion expulsion or insertion to maintain electroneutrality. As illustrated in Eqs. (1)... 

The electrochemistry of a polymer-modified electrode is determined by a combination of thermodynamics and the kinetics of charge-transfer and transport processes. Thermodynamic aspects are highlighted by cyclic voltammetry, while kinetic aspects are best studied by other methods. These methods will be introduced here, with the emphasis on how they are used to measure the rates of electron and ion transport in conducting polymer films. Charge transport in electroactive films in general has recently been reviewed elsewhere.9,11... 

Theoretical aspects of mediation and electrocatalysis by polymer-coated electrodes have most recently been reviewed by Lyons.12 In order for electrochemistry of the solution species (substrate) to occur, it must either diffuse through the polymer film to the underlying electrode, or there must be some mechanism for electron transport across the film (Fig. 20). Depending on the relative rates of these processes, the mediated reaction can occur at the polymer/electrode interface (a), at the poly-mer/solution interface (b), or in a zone within the polymer film (c). The equations governing the reaction depend on its location,12 which is therefore an important issue. Studies of mediation also provide information on the rate and mechanism of electron transport in the film, and on its permeability. 

Pickup, P. G. Electrochemistry of Electronically Conducting Polymer Films 33... 

This volume contains six chapters and a cumulative index for numbers 1-33. The topics covered include the potential of zero charge nonequilibrium fluctuation in the corrosion process conducting polymers, electrochemistry, and biomimicking processes microwave (photo)-electrochemistry improvements in fluorine generation and electronically conducting polymer films. 

The broad nature of the current peaks in the voltammogram of conducting polymers such as poly pyrrole has been interpreted in a number of w one of which was to attribute it to the movement of anions across the polymei, electrolyte interface, a vital process if the overall charge neutrality of the film is to be maintained. The participation of the electrolyte in the electrochemistry of the polymer film is easily seen by comparing the response of polypyrrole in a variety of different electrolytes (see Figure 3.74). 

Royce W. Murray is Kenan Professor of Chemistry at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He received his B.S. from Birmingham Southern College in 1957 and his Ph.D. from Northwestern University in 1960. His research areas are analytical chemistry and materials science with specialized interests in electrochemical techniques and reactions, chemically derivatized surfaces in electrochemistry and analytical chemistry, electrocatalysis, polymer films and membranes, solid state electrochemistry and transport phenomena, and molecular electronics. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences. 

The redox electrochemistry of thin polymer films is a particularly useful field of application for the quartz microbalance. As an example, we review experiments on poly(xylylviologen) films [15]. The viologen groups can be reversibly reduced in two discrete one-electron steps. 

A detailed study of the electrochemistry of polysilane high polymer films will be reported in the future. 

Scrosati, B., in Solid State Electrochemistry (Ed. P.G. Bruce), Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1995, Chapter 9 for latest status, see Electrochim. Acta 1999, 44, 1845-2163 (a special issue for electroactive polymer films). 

Assume that a disk-shaped electrode (gold, platinum, carbon, etc.) has been coated with a Film of poly (vinyl ferrocene) (Table 13.2). This can be accomplished by dissolving the polymer in chloroform, applying a drop of the solution to the electrode surface, and allowing the solvent to evaporate. The electrochemistry of the resulting polymer film-coated electrode can be investigated using the same electrochemical cell and equipment as described in the previous example. 

Electrochemistry of Thin Redox-Active Polymer films... 

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