Electrocatalysis of the hydroquinone/benzoquinone redox couple at electrodes covered by a film of polyaniline-like copolymers

Electrochemical copolymerization of aniline and p-phenylenediamine (PPD), and of N-(3-sulfopropyl)aniline (NSPA) and PPD, was performed by a potential cycling procedure. Acceleration of electropolymerization was found to proceed at a particular molar ratio of aniline and PPD. Electrocatalysis of the hydroquinone/benzoquinone (HQ/BQ) redox couple was shown to occur at electrodes covered with a film of copolymers of both types. At electrodes covered with the copolymer of aniline and PPD, a peak separation value as low as 0.035-0.045 V was found to be achievable for the studied redox couple by optimizing the electropolymerization conditions. Electrodes covered with the copolymer of NSPA and PPD show less efficient electrocatalysis. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.