(Photo)electrochemical behavior of selected organic compounds on TiO2 electrodes.: Overall relevance to heterogeneous photocatalysis

Oxidation potentials of resorcinol, 5-chlororesorcinol 4,6-dichlororesorcinol, catechol, 3,4-dihydroxybenzoic acid and 1,2,4-trihydroxybenzene were measured on particulate TiO2 (Degussa P-25) thin films, immobilized on optically transparent SnO2 conducting glass electrodes, by cyclic voltammetry in 0.5M KCl aqueous electrolyte solutions. The effect of adsorption on oxidation potentials was examined with the compounds adsorbed on the TiO2 particle surface. Scan rate dependencies of oxidation peak currents indicate that adsorbed species are consistently characterized by less positive oxidation potentials compared to those attributed to solution free species; the difference ranges from about 0.2 to 0.8 V. Results show that depending on the nature of the working electrode, associating a single oxidation potential to such compounds does not adequately describe their electrochemical behavior. Such observations have relevance in heterogeneous photocatalysis in that predictions of whether a substance will be photooxidized or photoreduced cannot be based on Fermi levels (redox potentials) of the redox couples in homogeneous solutions. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science S.A. All rights reserved.