Electroassisted Incorporation of Ferrocene within Sol–Gel Silica Films to Enhance Electron Transfer

Abstract

The sol–gel method is a straightforward technique that allows electrode modification with silica thin films. Furthermore, the silica pores could be functionalized to enhance the electrical conductivity and reactivity of the silica films. In this context, silica thin films were functionalized with ferrocene species. This functionalization was performed by electroassisted accumulation, generating a micro-structured composite electrode (Fc@SiO2 electrode). These modified electrodes were characterized by electrochemical and spectroelectrochemical methods, pointing out that ferrocene species were confined with high stability within the microporous silica thin film, demonstrating the good adsorption capacity of the silica. While the spectroelectrochemical characterization indicates that only a fraction of the confined species within the silica films were electroactive, the electrochemical results demonstrate that the Fc@SiO2 film enhances the electrochemical response of cytochrome c in a solution, which gives rise to further applications of these films for redox-controlled release and electrochemical detection of other redox-active proteins.

Keywords

• silica functionalization
• UV-vis spectroelectrochemistry
• mediated electron transfer
• cytochrome c