Electrochemical behaviour of ferrocene in the ionic liquid 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate, EMIMBF4, at 298 K

• The electrochemistry of ferrocene in EMIMBF4 on Pt and GC has been studied.
• The intrinsic rate constant of charge transfer k0, has been determined for the first time.
• The charge transfer coefficient α, has been calculated for the first time.
• The diffusion coefficient of Fc has been calculated by CV, CPSCV, CP and CA.

Electrochemical oxidation of ferrocene (Fc) at platinum and glassy carbon electrodes in the ionic liquid 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate, EMIMBF4, has been studied by cyclic voltammetry (CV), convolutive potential sweep voltammetry (CPSV), chronopotentiometry (CP) and chronoamperometry (CA).On both electrodes, the electro-oxidation of ferrocene to ferrocenium (Fc+) takes place in a quasi-reversible electrochemical mode. The intrinsic rate constant of charge transfer, k0, and the charge transfer coefficient, α, have been calculated for the first time in the mentioned ionic liquid, by simulation of the cyclic voltammograms, logarithmic analysis of the convoluted curves and from the steady-state current potential curves by applying the Gauss–Newton non-linear square method. The diffusion coefficient of Fc has been also calculated by CV, CPSV, CP and CA. A two-way analysis of variance, ANOVA, has shown that with a 95% confidence level, there are no significant differences between the diffusion coefficients obtained with both electrodes by the different techniques.

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