Polymer Film Coated Electrodes Prepared by Electroxidation of Aniline Derivatives

Abstract

In order to obtain new polymer film coated electrodes other than polyaniline electrode, the possibility of forming functional polymer films onto platinum electrodes by anodic oxidation of aniline derivatives has been examined. The products of electropolymerization of fourteen aniline derivatives can be classified as follows (Table 1): 1) Deposition of the electroactive polymer film which shows redox wave of polymer itself (o-phenylenediamine etc), 2) De- position of the electroactive polymer film which does not show any redox wave of polymer itself (N, N-dimethylaniline), 3) Formation of soluble products not adhering on an electrode surface (m-aminobenzenesulfonic acid etc), 4) Deposition of the electroinactive polymer film (o-chloroaniline etc). The basic characteristics such as conductivity, absorption spectra and redox potential of the electroactive polymer films were measured. Among the products obtained, poly(N, N-dimethyl aniline) and poly(o-phenylenediamine) electrodes showed unique properties compared with those of polyaniline (Table 3).