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Updated: Aug 12, 2025

Reductive Electropolymerization of a Vinyl-containing Poly-pyridyl Complex on Glassy Carbon and Fluorine-doped Tin Oxide Electrodes
Published on: January 30, 2015
Electropolymerization without an electric power supply
Suguru Iwai1, Taichi Suzuki1, Hiroki Sakagami1
1Department of Chemical Science and Engineering, School of Materials and Chemical Technology, Tokyo Institute of Technology, 4259 Nagatsuta-cho, Midori-ku, Yokohama, Kanagawa, 226-8502, Japan.
Abstract:
Electrifying synthesis is now a common slogan among synthetic chemists. In addition to the conventional two- or three-electrode systems that use batch-type cells, recent progress in organic electrochemical processes has been significant, including microflow electrochemical reactors, Li-ion battery-like technology, and bipolar electrochemistry. Herein we demonstrate an advanced electrosynthesis method without the application of electric power based on the concept of streaming potential-driven bipolar electrochemistry. As a proof-of-concept study, the electrochemical oxidative polymerization of aromatic monomers successfully yielded the corresponding polymer films on an electrode surface, which acted as an anode under the flow of electrolyte in a microchannel without an electric power supply.
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