From Molecular to Nanostructured Carbon Systems By Spectroelectrochemistry

The combination of electrochemistry and spectroscopy techniques has been widely used in different contexts both to complement physical chemical information or gain new data otherwise not so easily obtainable.

Thus, spectroelectrochemistry techniques, since the development in the 60’s of the last century has allowed to investigate the electron transfer processes in molecular systems with an increasing structure complexity as well as the electronic interactions among the various moieties in supramolecular species.¹ The appearance of low-dimensional carbon nanostructures, such as nanotubes and graphenes, which represent a very promising class of new materials in the field of nanotechnology, has seen an even more frequent recourse to spectroelectrochemical investigations.² This family of combined electrochemical and spectroscopy techniques has also been successfully used to develop sensor devices, as well as to study technological applications, as for example in the field of conducting polymers.  

In this communication the interesting redox, luminescence and electrochemiluminesce properties of different species spanning from molecular species, mainly coordination complexes, to nanostructured carbon systems (single walled carbon nanotube – SWNT, graphene, planar and curved polycyclic hydrocarbons³) will be discussed together with the fundamental data obtained from the spectroelectrochemical investigations.

References:

¹ Stagni, S. et al. Inorg. Chem. 2006, 45, 695.

² (a) Iurlo, M. et al. Chem. Comm. 2008, 4867 ;

(b) Paolucci, D. et al. J. Am. Chem. Soc. 2008, 130, 7393 ;

(c) Dragin, F. ACSNano 2011, 5, 9892.

³ Valenti, G. et al. J. Phys. Chem. C 2010, 114, 19467.