Electrocatalysis on Oxide-Stabilized, High-Surface
Area Carbon Electrodes
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Abstract
A procedure is described for preparing
and derivatizing novel,
high surface area electrodes consisting of thin layers of nanostructured
ITO (Sn(IV)-doped indium tin oxide, <i>nano</i>ITO) on reticulated
vitreous carbon (RVC) to give RVC|<i>nano</i>ITO. The resulting
hybrid electrodes are highly stabilized oxidatively. They were surface-derivatized
by phosphonate binding of the electrocatalyst, [Ru(Mebimpy)(4,4′-((HO)<sub>2</sub>OPCH<sub>2</sub>)<sub>2</sub>bpy)(OH<sub>2</sub>)]<sup>2+</sup> (Mebimpy = 2,6-bis(1-methylbenzimidazol-2-yl)pyridine; bpy = 2,2′-bipyridine)
(<b>1-PO</b><sub><b>3</b></sub><b>H</b><sub><b>2</b></sub>) to give RVC|<i>nano</i>ITO-Ru<sup>II</sup>-OH<sub>2</sub><sup>2+</sup>. The redox properties of the catalyst
are retained on the electrode surface. Electrocatalytic oxidation
of benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde occurs with a 75% Faradaic efficiency
compared to 57% on <i>nano</i>ITO. Electrocatalytic water
oxidation at 1.4 V vs SCE on derivatized RVC|<i>nano</i>ITO electrode with an internal surface area of 19.5 cm<sup>2</sup> produced 7.3 μmoles of O<sub>2</sub> in 70% Faradaic yield
in 50 min
