Electrocatalysis on Oxide-Stabilized, High-Surface Area Carbon Electrodes

A procedure is described for preparing and derivatizing novel, high surface area electrodes consisting of thin layers of nanostructured ITO (Sn(IV)-doped indium tin oxide, nanoITO) on reticulated vitreous carbon (RVC) to give RVClnanoITO. The resulting hybrid electrodes are highly stabilized oxidatively. They were surface-derivatized by phosphonate binding of the electrocatalyst, [Ru(Mebimpy)(4,4'-((HO)(2)OPCH2)(2)bpy)(OH2)](2+) (Mebimpy = 2,6-bis(1-methylbenzimidazol-2-yl)pyridine; bpy = 2,2'-bipyridine) (1-PO3H2) to give RVClnanoITO-Ru-II-OH22+. The redox properties of the catalyst are retained on the electrode surface. Electrocatalytic oxidation of benzyl alcohol to benzaldehyde occurs with a 75% Faradaic efficiency compared to 57% on nanoITO. Electrocatalytic water oxidation at 1.4 V vs SCE on derivatized RVClnanoITO electrode with an internal surface area of 19.5 cm(2) produced 7.3 mu moles of O-2 in 70% Faradaic yield in 50 min.