Electroinactive coatings on platinum electrodes in aqueous solution

Abstract

The voltammetric behaviour of platinum electrodes coated with a mixture of poly(4-vinyl-pyridine-co-styrene) and hexadecyl-methane-sulfonate is unusual and enlightening in several important respects. The metal can be oxidized under this coating and the resulting surface oxide can be reduced in two distinct steps. The intermediate, half-reduced, species is a platinum-pyridyl complex which is also formed during the reduction of the surface oxide at platinum electrodes in aqueous pyridine solutions. The formation of this complex competes with the adsorption of aliphatic alcohols from solution. This inhibition provides an analytical response to a variety of alcohols with moderate detection limits.