Hybrid and individual Mn(III)5,10,15,20-tetrakis(4-aminophenyl) - based films: electrochemistry, films formation and ORR testing

Hybrid materials based on porphyrins were obtained electrochemically by superoxide- initiated method. The film deposition is observed at negative potential for Mn(III)T(4-NH₂Ph)P, but aniline is deposited both in the positive and negative potential regions despite the same electroactive functional group. This allows us to form hybrid materials (HM) from the mixtures of components (porphyrin and aniline). The presence of polyaniline fragments in the molecular structure of HM was demonstrated by Raman spectroscopy. A strong difference in the morphology and functional characteristics between HM and poly-Mn(III)T(4-NH₂Ph)P films was shown. Our results demonstrated the more efficiency of oxygen electroreduction reaction (ORR) in an alkaline medium on the HM film surface than on the poly-Mn(III)T(4-NH₂Ph)P film surface. We believe that the observed improving in the ORR kinetic is due to an increase in the density of surface defects in the case of HM catalyst surface.