Cyclic Voltammograms of Ferrocene on Multi-walled Carbon Nanotubes (MWCNTs)-modified Edge Plane Pyrolytic Graphite (EPPG) Electrode in Room Temperature Ionic Liquids (RTILs) of 1-Ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate (EMIBF_4)

摘要

In this work, the electrochemical behavior of ferrocene (Fc) was investigated by cyclic voltammetry (CV) in room temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) of 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrafluoroborate (EMIBF_4) on glass carbon (GC), edge plane pyrolytic graphite (EPPG) and multi-walled carbon nanotube (MWCNTs)-modified EPPG electrodes, respectively. The results demonstrated that on GC electrode, pairs of well-defined reversible peaks were observed, while for the electrode of EPPG, the peak potential separation (ΔE_P) is obviously larger than the theoretical value of 59 mV, hinting that the electrode of EPPG is distinguished from the commonly used electrode, consistent with the previous proposition that EPPG has many "defects". To obtain an improved electrochemical response, multi-walled carbon nanotubes (MWCNTs) were modified on the electrode of EPPG; the increased peak current and promoted peak potential separation not only proved the existence of "defects" in MWCNTs, but also supported that "creating active points" on an electrode is the main contribution of MWCNTs. Initiating the electrochemical research of Fc on the MWCNTs-modified EPPG electrode in RTILs and verifying the presence of "defects" on both EPPG and MWCNTs using cyclic voltammograms (CVs) of Fc obtained in RTILs of EMIBF_4, is the main contribution of this preliminary work.