Schiff Base Derived CoPO–CN for Electrocatalytic Oxygen Evolution, Urea Oxidation and Ascorbic Acid Sensing

• Published in: Russian journal of electrochemistry 2023, Vol.59 (1), p.92-103
• Main Authors: Yang Hu, Liu, Qingcui, Ren, Haoyi, Liang, Wenju, Shao, Peiyuan, Deng, Jianglian, Yu, Feng, Liu, Zhiyong, Peng, Banghua
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Ascorbic acid; Biomolecules; Catalysts; Catalytic activity; Chemical precipitation; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Cobalt; Electrochemical analysis; Electrochemistry; Energy conversion; Energy storage; Imines; Oxidation; Oxygen evolution reactions; Physical Chemistry; Ureas
• ISSN: 1023-1935; 1608-3342
• DOI: 10.1134/S1023193523010044

The development of multifunctional electrocatalytic materials for energy storage, conversion and electrochemical sensing with the characteristics of low cost, high catalytic activity, and high stability has far-reaching significance. In recent years, Schiff base complexes have become the preferred materials for electrochemical research interests because of their special structure and the multiple active sites on the surface. However, there are few studies on Schiff base catalysts for the multifunctional application, especially in electrochemical detection. In this paper, cobalt Schiff base complex was synthesized by solution precipitation method and then was phosphorized to obtain the multifunctional catalyst denoted as CoPO–CN. The electrocatalytic activity was measured in the presence and absence of urea alkaline solution, and the results showed that the onset potential for urea oxidation reaction (UOR) and oxygen evolution reaction (OER) were 1.35 and 1.52 V versus reversible hydrogen electrode (vs. RHE), respectively. The electrochemical sensing performance for ascorbic acid (AA) indicated that the detection sensitivity was 217.2 μA mM –1 cm –2 , and the detection limit was 3.84 μM. Our work creatively used the phosphorized cobalt Schiff base for multifunctional application, not only providing new insights for the multifunctional application of Schiff base catalyst in energy conversion, but also pointing a new method for detecting small biomolecules, especially ascorbic acid.