Design and demonstration of absorption/luminescence-compatible spectroelectrochemical cell with optically transparent thin-layer electrode

Abstract

An optically transparent thin-layer electrode (OTTLE) cell compatible with both absorption and luminescence spectroelectrochemistry was developed. An octagonal quartz prism with a slit to insert a Pt mesh working electrode allows 2 orientations with 90° and 45° versus incident lights from the absorption and luminescence spectrophotometers, respectively. As a result, both spectroelectrochemical experiments can be operated using this single OTTLE cell. [Ru(bpy) 3 ] 2+/3+ was employed for demonstration of our cell in the absorption and luminescence spectroelectrochemical experiments as well as a preliminary electrochemical survey using cyclic voltammetry. Consequently, the Nernstian response of the [Ru(bpy) 3 ] 2+/3+ redox couple was observed as expected in any of the experiments, demonstrating that the current cell quantitatively works for both absorption and luminescence spectroelectrochemistry.