Nanoparticle-Impact Experiments are Highly Sensitive to the Presence of Adsorbed Species on Electrode Surfaces

作者：Kaetelhoen Enno; Cheng Wei; Batchelor McAuley Christopher; Tschulik Kristina; Compton Richard G^*

来源：ChemElectroChem, 2014, 1(6): 1057-1062.

DOI：10.1002/celc.201402014

• nanoelectrochemistry
• electrode adsorption
• nanoimpacts
• nanoparticles
• partially blocked electrodes

We theoretically and experimentally investigate the influence of partial surface blocking on the electrochemistry of nanoparticles impacting at an electrode. To this end, we introduce an analytical model for the adsorption of single blocking molecules on the electrode and calculate the resulting fractional electrode coverage. We find that even small amounts of adsorbed molecules can fully suppress detection of impacts of nanoparticles while the electrode characteristics in the detection of electroactive molecules hardly change. Our findings are supported by experimental data on the indigo nanoparticle electroreduction at a carbon microelectrode (radius 5.5 mu m) in aqueous solution. We find that nanoimpacts are fully suppressed in the presence of acetone at concentrations of 250 nm, which have a negligible effect on the electrode kinetics of the Fe(CN)(6)(3-/4-) couple.

• 出版日期2014-6-11