Journal of Applied Electrochemistry, Vol.36, No.9, 1027-1034, 2006
Mechanistic study of the electropolymeric synthesis of a conducting polyacetylene chloride polymer
A conducting polyacetylene chloride polymer was synthesized by the electropolymerization of trichloroethylene, using the monomer in a concentration range from 0.0025 to 0.04 M, with 1.8 to 2.1 V vs. Ag/Ag+ applied potential, and tetrabutylammonium perchlorate (0.1 M) and the organic electrolyte tetrabutylammonium tetrafluoroborate (0.01 M) in acetonitrile (50 ml), with mild agitation at room temperature. The electropolymerization was found to have several reaction steps in a paired electrolysis system. A reaction mechanism is proposed and a descriptive mathematical function was developed into a theoretical analysis, which correlates well with the experimental results. The rate determining step was found to be the separation of the Cl- ion. The paired electrolysis current of trichloroethylene (TCE) can be expressed by the following function: 1/i =0.0497 1/[TCE] + 66.92 1/X. where X is exp(-beta(2) F eta(2)/RT) and beta(2) and eta(2) represent a transfer constant and the overpotential.