Influence of irregular surface and dopant ions on electrocatalytic activity of conducting polymer modified graphite electrode

Since the discovery of the organic conducting polymers more than 30 years ago, these materials are finding an increasing use in various branches of technology, such as metallization of dielectrics, primary and secondary batteries, fuel cell, antistatic coatings, electromagnetic shielding, electrochromic systems, etc. One of the most striking properties of conducting polymers is their ability to catalyze some electrode reactions. A thin layer of a conducting polymer, deposited onto the surface of substrate electrode, is able to enhance the kinetics of electrode processes of some solution species. These electrocatalytic processes, proceeding at conducting polymer electrodes, present a fast growing area of investigation, which may yield many unexpected applications in various fields of applied electrochemistry. Noble metal based catalysts are widely used in industry. The catalytic activity of these metals is known to depend highly on their dispersity and surface properties. As usual, for many catalytic processes, a high degree of dispersity and large surface area are desirable. Conducting polymers are often considered to be useful matrices for the immobilization of the dispersed noble metal catalysts. Porous structure and high surface area of many conducting polymers favours their use as supporting material for the development of new catalytic and electrocatalytic materials. Because of a relative high electric conductivity of some polymers, it is possible to shuttle the electrons through polymer chains between the electrode and dispersed metal particles, where the electrocatalytic reaction occurs. Thus, an efficient electrocatalysis can be achieved at these composite materials, and a great deal of attention was paid to the use of conducting polymers as supporting matrices for the immobilization of catalytically active noble metal particles [1,2].

Influence of irregular surface and dopant ions on electrocatalytic activity of conducting polymer modified graphite electrode Keywords:

conducting polymer , electrocatalytst , fractal dimension