In this work, a simple non-template one-step method for the synthesis of 2.0-2.5 nm palladium nanoparticles encapsulated into a polypyrrole shell via direct redox reaction between palladium(II) acetate and pyrrole in acetonitrile medium is described. Palladium nanoparticles are found to be able to self-organize into spherical Pd/PPy composites. The size of the Pd/PPy composite particles and Pd content in the composite depend strongly on the concentration of the palladium salt component. The combination of elemental CHNS and thermogravimetric (TGA) analysis was used to determine a high (∼40 wt %) content of palladium, which is in a good agreement with EDX data. The process of Pd/PPy composite formation was studied with the use of UV-vis spectroscopy and AFM spectroscopy. Properties of the obtained material were characterized by means of FTIR, XPS, XRD, SEM, and TEM techniques.

Pd@PPy hybrid catalytic materials are synthesized in water via redox polymerization reaction of pyrrole with [Pd(NH3)4Cl2]. The nanocomposites formed are composed of highly dispersed palladium particles which are either zerovalent or easily reducible, and are embedded in spherical polypyrrole globules. A unique combination of high palladium dispersion (NP size: 2.4 nm) and elevated palladium content (35 wt%) is obtained. The components of these novel nanocomposites are characterized by means of FTIR, XPS, XRD, SEM, and TEM microscopy techniques. The process of formation in solution is also monitored using UV‐visible and DLS techniques. The application of these novel hybrid nanomaterials in the palladium‐catalyzed direct arylation of heteroaromatics is reported. High efficiency in C–C bond formation is obtained using these materials. Furans and thiophenes are arylated by using bromoarenes. Pd@PPy nanocomposites can efficiently couple n‐butyl furan and n‐butyl thiophene with bromobenzene and bromoquinoline, as well as with activated or deactivated electron‐poor and electron‐rich functionalized bromoarenes. Thus, a clean reaction process is developed that combines the absence of organic ligand in catalytic reactions and easy recovery of Pd@PPy nanocomposite via simple filtration. Preliminary kinetic and post‐catalysis studies suggest a molecular or colloidal soluble active species. These very active species are efficiently delivered by the nanocomposites and susceptible to a surprisingly uniform back redeposition within the polypyrrole support.

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A phenomenological theory of direct current across the metal–solid electrolyte interface is presented, using the assumption that cations are the only mobile charge carriers in the electrolyte. The current–voltage characteristic of the system is obtained under the assumption that a delayed stage of the electrode reaction is the electron transfer in cation discharge or ionization of metal ions.

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The ac impedance response of a symmetrically bathed membrane consisting of a conducting polymer is modeled. The model is an extension of a recent one proposed for a conducting polymer film contacting an electronic and an ionic conductor on its two faces (modified electrode geometry) and takes into account both diffusion-migration of ionic and electronic charge carriers inside the film and charge-transfer across metal/polymer and polymer/electrolyte interfaces. The membrane impedance is .calculated for various combinations of parameters in order to stress the effect of diffusion coefficients, charge-transfer resistance, and double layer capacitance at the interfaces. The impedance responses in the modified electrode and membrane geometries are compared. It is thus shown how some ambiguities in the attribution of certain features of the impedance of modified electrodes to either the polymer/electrode or polymer/electrolyte interfaces may be eliminated by this comparison.

Several earlier studies of the electrochemical oxidation of ferrocene (Fc) in room-temperature ionic liquids revealed an essentially nonlinear dependence of the oxidation current on the Fc concentration in its relatively dilute solutions, with its formally calculated diffusion coefficient strongly increasing with the concentration. Since no plausible mechanism leading to this very unusual finding had been proposed, our study of Fc solutions in 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium triflimide, [BMIM][NTf(2)], was performed to verify whether the above observation originated from an incorrect determination of the dissolved Fc concentration. Our observations have demonstrated that reliable control of the Fc concentration in solution is complicated by factors such as the low amount of Fc used to prepare small-volume solutions or the great difficulty to dissolve completely a solid powder in a solvent with an extremely high viscosity. An unexpected additional complication is related to a sufficiently high volatility of Fc which manifests itself even at room temperature and especially at elevated temperatures or/and in the course of vacuum treatment of its solutions or its solid powder. Parallel measurements of electrochemical responses and UV-visible spectra for several series of Fc solutions of various concentrations (prepared with the use of different procedures) have shown a perfect parallelism between the peak current and the intensity of the absorption band in the range of 360-550 nm, leading us to the conclusion of a linear relationship between the oxidation current and the molecularly dissolved Fc concentration. The relations of these measured characteristics with the estimated Fc concentration in these solutions have demonstrated a much greater dispersion (attributed to the difficulty of a precise measurement of the latter) but without a significant deviation from the linearity in general. This finding has allowed us to estimate the diffusion coefficient of this species: D = (1.7 +/- 0.2) x 10(-7) cm(2)/s. The extinction coefficients for the maximum of the absorption band (at 440 nm) of Fc have been compared for a series of solvents: [BMIM][NTf(2)], acetonitrile, THF, heptane, CH(2)Cl(2), ethanol, and toluene. A simple method to estimate reliably the concentration of solute Fc in ionic liquids based on spectroscopic measurements has been proposed, owing to the proximity of Fc absorption properties for a great variety of solvents.

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