Synthesis and characterization of polypyrrole by cyclic voltammetry at different scan rate and its use in electrochemical reduction of the simulant of nerve agents

In this study, polypyrrole (pPy) was in-situ electrosynthesized on gold electrode surface using four different scan rate variations such as 5, 10, 25 and 50 mV/s with the help of cyclic voltammetry. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) characterization revealed a scan rate dependent surface morphology for the pPy modified electrodes. The surface functional groups and elemental composition of the modified electrodes were deduced using Raman spectroscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS), respectively. These pPy modified electrodes were utilized to study the electrochemical behavior of the nerve agents’ simulant dimethyl methyl phosphonate (DMMP) in aqueous medium. These modified electrodes exhibited electrochemical parameters with DMMP depending on the scan rate used for the in-situ synthesis of pPy conducting polymer.