Voltammetric and photoelectron spectral elucidation of the electrocatalytic oxidation of hydrogen peroxide at screen‐printed carbon electrodes chemically modified with cobalt phthalocyanine

Abstract

Abstract The interplaying mechanisms involved in the electrocatalytic oxidation of hydrogen peroxide (H 2 O 2 ) have been studied using cyclic and differential‐pulse voltammetry and X‐ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS). Cobalt phthalocyanine (CoPC) modified screen‐printed carbon electrodes (SPCEs) were used as base transducers in the voltammetric studies, and for XPS experiments a mixture of the printing ink containing CoPC was coated onto a steel stub. These investigations have shown that CoPC is initially in the Co 2+ oxidation state, and that in plain supporting electrolytes it is subsequently electrochemically oxidized to Co 3+ . A postulated sequence of events for the mediated oxidation of H 2 O 2 at CoPC‐SPCEs has been derived from the XPS and voltammetric data generated.