Versatile cell for in-situ spectroelectrochemical and ex-situ nanomorphological characterization of both water soluble and insoluble phthalocyanine compounds

A novel cell for complex spectroelectrochemical and nanomorphological characterization of phthalocyanine has been developed. The applicability and universality of the cell allows performing both in-situ and ex-situ characterization of the same sample, in solid and solution state, respectively, which was demonstrated on tetramethyltetra-3,4-pyridine-porphyrazino cobalt as water soluble and tetraneopentoxyphthalocyanine cobalt as water insoluble phthalocyanine based compound. The cell is composed of a planar freely replaceable bottom formed by a basal plane of highly ordered pyrolytic graphite. It allows complete characterization of modified electrode on same electrode, from spectral observation of modification process via atomic force microscopy to spectroelectrochemical characterization of redox and catalytic behavior. The relatively inert HOPG electrode serves as a substrate for phthalocyanine compounds and also as a backscattering mirror for in-situ reflection spectroscopy. This makes the cell suitable for spectroelectrochemical studies of phthalocyanine both as HOPG-supported thin film and in the solution. Moreover, the cell can take the advantage of optional utilization of supported thin layer interface of two immiscible electrolyte solutions allowing spectroelectrochemical analysis of sub-microgram quantities of water insoluble compounds. .