Electrochemical behaviour of gold nanoparticles and Co tetraaminophthalocyanine on glassy carbon electrode

We report on the electrodeposition of gold nanoparticles (AuNPs) onto the glassy carbon electrode (GCE) followed by polymerization of cobalt tetraamino phthalocyanine (CoPc(NH2)4) on top (represented as poly-CoPc(NH2)4-/AuNPs-GCE). The modified electrode where CoPc(NH2)4 is polymerized first followed by deposition of AuNPs is represented as AuNPs/poly-CoPc(NH2)4-GCE. In the absence of AuNPs, the electrode is represented as poly-CoPc(NH2)4-GCE or for AuNPs alone (AuNPs-GCE). The surface coverage was 1.5 × 10−9 mol cm−2 for AuNPs-GCE and 3.0 × 10−9 mol cm−2 for the rest of the modified electrodes. AuNPs/CoPc(NH2)4-GCE exhibited high electrocatalytic activity towards the oxidation of nitrite, with detection potential of 0.76 V. The catalytic rate constant of 3.96 × 107 cm3 mol−1 s−1 was obtained for nitrite oxidation.Original publication is available at http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.electacta.2013.12.13