The electrochemical oxidation of 6‐ferrocenylheptanoate was used to modify the surface of glassy carbon electrodes with thin films bearing ferrocene molecules. These films grow layer by layer and behave as surface redox catalyst during the electrografting. The electrografted films have a structure with pinholes or channels, whose existence was deduced from the redox behavior of the film in acetonitrile solution containing different supporting electrolytes and organic additives. The electron transport through this film requires the presence of the electrolyte anions in the film channels. However, the voltametric feature of the grafted films is sensitive to the electrolyte cation size. The supporting electrolyte anions inside the film channels stabilize the ferrocenium species during the film oxidation. However, the presence of the cations is required to keep the inner charge balance. The inclusion of both anions and cations inside the grafted film determines the surface coverage obtained from the voltammetric experiments.
scite is a Brooklyn-based organization that helps researchers better discover and understand research articles through Smart Citations–citations that display the context of the citation and describe whether the article provides supporting or contrasting evidence. scite is used by students and researchers from around the world and is funded in part by the National Science Foundation and the National Institute on Drug Abuse of the National Institutes of Health.