Improvement of the electrochemical and electrocatalytic behavior of Prussian blue/carbon nanotubes composite via ionic liquid treatment

This paper reports the greatly improved electrochemical properties of Prussian blue/carbon nanotubes (PB/CNTs) modified glassy carbon electrode via a room temperature ionic liquid (RTIL) treatment. Firstly, the GC electrodes were modified with nanocomposites of RTIL/CNTs. Then, the PB nanoparticles were electrodeposited onto the modified electrode surface. Compared with the PB/CNTs/GC, the PB/RTIL/CNTs/GC electrodes showed higher PB surface concentration value of 2.42 × 10−9 mol cm−2, indicating that PB deposition efficiency was improved by 1.8 fold. The apparent diffusion coefficient for K+ displayed value of 5.77 × 10−11 cm2 s−1, which was one order of magnitude higher than that in the absence of RTIL. PB/RTIL/CNTs/GC modified electrodes showed higher electron transfer rate of 2.44 s−1 (2.35 times as much as that of PB/CNTs/GC electrodes). RTIL modified electrodes also displayed high sensitivity toward H2O2 reduction (185.90 μA mM−1 cm−2) with low detection limit of 0.49 μM. The RTIL modified electrodes stored dry at room temperature preserved almost 100% of their initial currents over a period of 1 month, a useful property for commercial applications