Structure and Electroanalytical Application of Nitrogen-doped Carbon Thin Film Electrode with Lower Nitrogen Concentration

Abstract

We studied a nitrogen-doped nanocarbon film electrode with a nitrogen concentration of lower than 10.9 at% formed by the unbalanced magnetron (UBM) sputtering method. The sp³ content in the nitrogen-doped UBM sputtering nanocarbon film (N-UBM film) slightly increases with increasing nitrogen concentration. The nitrogen-containing graphite-like bonding decreases and pyridine-like bonding increases with increasing nitrogen concentration. The N-UBM film has a very smooth surface with an average roughness of 0.1 to 0.3 nm, which is almost independent of nitrogen concentration. The N-UBM film electrode shows a wider potential window (4.1 V) than a pure-UBM film electrode (3.9 V) due to its slight increase in the sp³ content. The electrocatalytic activity increased with increasing nitrogen concentration, suggesting that the electroactivity is maximum when the nitrogen concentration is around 10.9 at%, which is confirmed by the peak separation of Fe(CN)₆⁴⁻. The hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) reduction potentials at the N-UBM film electrode shifted about 0.1 V, and the peak current of H₂O₂ increased about 4 times.