Effect of Different Electrode Materials on the Electropolymerization Process of Aniline in Nitric Acid Media

The electropolymerization process of aniline on different electrode surfaces such as Pt, Au, RuTi and polyaniline film in nitric acid solution containing 1 M aniline was investigated by cyclic voltammetry and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy. Proposed electrical equivalent circuits were used to give a further analysis. Results show that the electrode materials accelerate the aniline electropolymerization remarkably as a catalyst, especially the electrochemical oxidation process of monomer aniline to its cation radical, which is the key step to incur the electropolymerization reaction of aniline on the electrode surface. The polymerization of aniline on RuTi electrode has the lowest reaction resistance for its adsorption sites, and the catalytic effects of these different electrodes decrease in the order: RuTi > polyaniline film > Pt > Au. The results also show that several states of polyaniline films are formed during the potential linear scan process in nitric acid solution and the corresponding oxidation and reduction reaction are reversible.