Scanning electrochemical microscopy in combination with piezoelectric quartz crystal impedance analysis for studying the growth and electrochemistry as well as microetching of poly(o-phenylenediamine) thin films.

The combination of scanning electrochemical microscopy (SECM) with piezoelectric quartz crystal impedance (PQCI) analysis was proposed as a novel multiparameter method for investigating the cyclic voltammetric growth of poly(o-phenylenediamine) (PoPD) thin films at Au electrodes in aqueous solutions of various pH values and the potentiostatic microetching (localized degradation) of these films in 0.10 mol/L aqueous H2SO4 for comparative examinations on polymer porosity and stability. Two potential-sweep ranges, −0.4 to 0.9 (I) and 0 to 0.9 (II) V versus SCE, and four solutions, acidic (A, 0.20 mol/L H2SO4 + 0.10 mol/L Na2SO4; B, 0.10 mol/L H2SO4 + 0.20 mol/L Na2SO4), neutral (C, 0.10 mol/L PBS + 0.20 mol/L Na2SO4, pH 7.2), and alkaline (D, 0.20 mol/L NaOH + 0.20 mol/L Na2SO4) aqueous solutions, were selected for PoPD growth. The pH increase for the polymerization solution increased the molar percentage of polyaniline-like chains in PoPD, as quantified from the current peaks at ∼0.6 V versus a saturated ca...