Electrochemical purification of carbon nanotube electrodes

Autor(en)

Aránzazu Heras, Alvaro Colina, Jesús López-Palacios, Paola Ayala, Jani Sainio, Viginia Ruiz, Esko I. Kauppinen

Abstrakt

We present a fast and effective electrochemical method to purify random networks of single-walled carbon nanotubes (SWCNTs) that leads to total removal of metal catalyst without apparent detrimental effect on the electrochemical properties of the electrodes. The efficiency of the electrochemical purification has been compared with that of conventional chemical purification (acid washing). The disappearance of the peaks corresponding to the electrochemical redox reactions of iron during electrochemical purification evidences removal of iron impurities. The efficiency of electrochemical cleaning is further corroborated by cyclic voltammetry (CV) of an iron-sensitive electrochemical reaction, hydrazine oxidation. X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy also indicates that no iron can be detected after electrochemical purification whereas some iron is still left after acid washing. Moreover, Raman spectroscopy reveals higher degree of SWCNT damage after chemical purification compared to the electrochemical one. Electrochemically purified and pristine SWCNT electrodes exhibit similar conductivity, electrochemistry and performance as optically transparent electrodes for an iron-insensitive redox probe, View the MathML source.

Organisation(en)

Elektronische Materialeigenschaften

Externe Organisation(en)

Universidad de Burgos, Aalto University, VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland

Journal

Electrochemistry Communications

Band

11

Seiten

1535-1538

Anzahl der Seiten

4

ISSN

1388-2481

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.elecom.2009.05.052

Publikationsdatum

2009

Peer-reviewed

Ja

ÖFOS 2012

103015 Kondensierte Materie

Link zum Portal

https://ucrisportal.univie.ac.at/de/publications/36defd77-31bd-4d08-93ad-e941364f4f72