Adsorption of Hydroquinone to Polycrystalline Gold Electrode and Its Effect on the Electrochemical Properties

Adsorption of hydroquinone (QH 2 ) onto a polycrystalline gold electrode surface in an unbuffered aqueous solution was confirmed by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and time-of-flight secondary ion mass spectrometry. The adsorption appeared to inhibit direct electron transfer between QH 2 in the solution and the gold electrode. CV indicated that the surface coverage was ca. 9 × 10 −11 mol cm −2 . It was also demonstrated that when QH 2 was electrochemically oxidized, the adsorbed QH 2 likely desorbed from the gold surface.