Electrochemical characterization of nitrogen incorporated tetrahedral carbon films grown by a filtered cathodic vacuum arc

摘要

Tetrahedral carbon films incorporating nitrogen (taC:N) have been produced on Si, Ta, Ti and electrochemically roughed Ag surfaces using a single commercial filtered cathodic vacuum arc (FCVA) carbon ion source in the presence of nitrogen gas at reduced pressure. Highly resolved Raman spectra under visible laser excitation were obtained for taC:N films only a few nm thick deposited on roughed Ag, including the rather elusive T band characteristic of sp~3 hybridaized bonding. The electrochemical repose of taC:N supported on polished Ta in aqueous solutions was found to be virtually identical to that reported earlier for taC:N film on Si prepared by the simultaneous incidence of a custom made FCVA carbon ions source and a nitrogen ion gun. Reversible kinetics for Ru(NH_3)_6Cl_3 reduction in 1M KCl and electrocatalytic activity for chlorine evolution and reduction in 1 M HCl solutions are observed juxtaposed to high overpotentials for hydrogen and oxygen evolution.