Electrocatalytic oxygen evolution by polymerised porphyrins – An investigation on the role of conformation on electropolymerisation and on catalytic activity

Abstract

An investigation on the effectiveness of oxygen evolution with different porphyrin as electrode modifying agents (electrocatalyst) is carried out in the present work. The intention of the work was to correlate the conformation of the porphyrins with their extent of electropolymerisation and in turn, its effect on oxygen evolution reaction (OER). Of the three meso‑arylporphyrin studied, cobalt derivative of 2-thienylporphyrin is found to be the best in electropolymerisation and in activity for OER. The stability of this modified electrode as catalyst is higher compared to the other two cases where the extent of electropolymerisation is less as evidenced from UV visible spectral details and SEM images. Also it showed good Faradaic efficiency. This study throws light on the role of electropolymerisation in improving the activity of complexes in employing them as functional materials