A combined theoretical and experimental study of the electrochemically induced chemisorption of acrylonitrile on nickel, copper, and zinc

C. Fredriksson*, R. Lazzaroni, J. L. Brédas, M. Mertens, R. Jérôme

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

13 Scopus citations

Abstract

We report a combined theoretical and experimental study of the interaction between a series of transition metals (Ni, Cu, Zn) and acrylonitrile. We demonstrate experimentally that the transition metal has a selective role in the grafting of electropolymerized acrylonitrile. Nickel and copper substrates support the formation of a polyacrylonitrile film, while zinc does not. Quantum chemical calculations indicate that acrylonitrile molecules form π-d bonds with Ni and Cu atoms, but do not react chemically with a Zn atom, in qualitative agreement with the experiment. Computational results also show that the electron affinity is significantly increased upon chemisorption, promoting radical anion species at the metal surface as initiators for polymerization.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)356-362
Number of pages7
JournalChemical Physics Letters
Volume258
Issue number3-4
DOIs
StatePublished - Aug 16 1996
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
The authors are grateful to Ph. Teyssi6 and V. Geskin for interesting discussions. Research on metal/polymer interfaces in Mons is partly supported by the European Commission SCIENCE program (contract 0661 POLYSURF), The Belgian Federal Government SSTC 'Programme d'Attraction In-teruniversitaire en Chimie Supramoleculaire et Catalyse' and 'Programme d'Impulsion en Technologie de l'Information', FNRS/FRFC, and an IBM Academic Joint Study. The Liege group is indebted to the 'Services de la Programmation de la Politique Scientifique', Brussels, Belgium, for general support. CF acknowledges grants from the Swedish Research Council for Engineering Science (TFR).

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Physics and Astronomy
  • Physical and Theoretical Chemistry

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