D. Silvester, Weisi He, L. Aldous
Jul 25, 2008
Citations
1
Influential Citations
38
Citations
Journal
Journal of Physical Chemistry C
Abstract
Using cyclic voltammetry, the electrochemical reduction of benzoic acid (BZA) has been studied at Pt and Au microelectrodes (10 and 2 μm diameter) in six room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs), namely [C2mim][NTf2], [C4mim][NTf2], [C4mpyrr][NTf2], [C4mim][BF4], [C4mim][NO3], and [C4mim][PF6] (where [Cnmim]+ = 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium, [NTf2]− = bis(trifluoromethylsulfonyl)imide, [C4mpyrr]+ = N-butyl-N-methylpyrrolidinium, [BF4]− = tetrafluoroborate, [NO3]− = nitrate, and [PF6]− = hexafluorophosphate). In all cases, a main reduction peak was observed, assigned to the reduction of BZA in a CE mechanism, where dissociation of the acid takes place before electron transfer to the dissociated proton. One anodic peak was observed on the reverse sweep, assigned to the oxidation of adsorbed hydrogen, and a reductive “prepeak” (assigned to the reduction of protons forming adsorbed hydrogen, H•(ads)) was observed before the main reduction peak. On extending the cathodic window, an electrochemically reversible pea...