Copper thiosemicarbazone modified electrode for hydrazine electrocatalytic oxidation

Abstract

The major barrier in electro-oxidation of hydrazine hydrate involves usage of expensive, precious noble metal catalysts (Platinum, Palladium, Ruthenium and etc) along with complex reaction mechanism & sluggish kinetics. In this work, a novel copper thiosemicarbazone complex (Cu2L2) is synthesised and characterised by various spectroscopic techniques & proposed as a new electrocatalyst for hydrazine oxidation. Electrocatalytic efficiency of the modified catalyst with metal complex (Cu2L2) have been studied using several potentiostatic & potentiodynamic techniques. Fundamental cyclic voltammeteric investigation reveal sharp & irreversible oxidation peak at 0.3 V vs Ag/AgCl (Sat.KCl) electrode for the direct oxidation of hydrazine with fast electrochemical kinetics using the modified electrode approach & thus it can be an excellent platform for oxidising hydrazine in neutral, basic & acidic medium. The sensing ability of modified electrode for hydrazine is demonstrated using chronoamperometric technique with the detection limit of 0.5 μM with linearity range from 0.5 μM to 27 μM. In addition, Modified electrodes are specific and selective towards the precise oxidation of hydrazine in presence of other interfering organic compounds and inorganic ions. Thus, present modified electrode approach opens the possibility of using such new class of copper thiosemicarbazone complex as an electrocatalyst for direct electrochemical oxidation of hydrazine which can be further extended in the application of direct hydrazine fuel cells (DHFC).