In situ Raman spectroelectrochemical study of electrocatalytic processes at polyaniline modified electrodes: Redox vs. metal-like catalysis

Two processes of electrocatalytic oxidation of solution species at conducting polymer modified electrodes have been studied for the first time with in situ Resonance Raman spectroelectrochemical technique at a red laser excitation (λ = 632.8 nm), namely electrooxidation of hydroquinone at a sulfonated polyaniline modified electrode in an acidic solution and electrooxidation of ascorbic acid at polyaniline modified electrode in a pH-neutral solution. In both cases, characteristic Raman features have been identified for different redox forms of conducting polymers and changes in the net redox state of a polymer layer during electrooxidation of solution species have been studied. It has been shown that an increase in the concentration of oxidizable species causes an increase of the net content of a reduced form of polyaniline in the modifying layer. From this, the redox (vs. metal-like) mechanism of electrocatalysis at conducting polymer modified electrodes has been deduced.