Concatenation of electrochemical grafting with chemical or electrochemical modification for preparing electrodes with specific surface functionality

Surface modified electrodes are used in electro-analysis, electro-catalysis, sensors, biomedical applications, etc. and could also be used in batteries. The properties of modified electrodes are determined by the surface functionality. Therefore, the steps involved in the surface modification of the electrodes to obtain specific functionality are of prime importance. We illustrate here bridging of two routes of surface modifications namely electrochemical grafting, and chemical or electrochemical reduction. First, by electrochemical grafting an organic moiety is covalently immobilized on the surface. Then, either by chemical or by electrochemical route the terminal functional group of the grafted moiety is transformed. Using the former route we prepared lithium alkyl carbonate (–O(CH₂)₃OCO₂Li) modified carbon with potential applications in batteries, and employing the latter we prepared phenyl hydroxyl amine (–C₆H₄NHOH) modified carbon which may find application in biosensors. Benzyl alcohol (–C₆H₄CH₂OH) modified carbon was prepared by both chemical as well as electrochemical route. We report combinations of conjugating the two steps of surface modifications and show how the optimal route of terminal functional group modification depends on the chemical nature of the moiety attached to the surface in the electrochemical grafting step.