Abstract
•IrOx film was fabricated on ITO glass with electro flocculation method.•Ir(III)/Ir(IV) redox couple catalyzes catechol oxidation reactions in the acidic medium.•Catechol may be used as fuel in a fuel cell.•IrOx-ITO film is extremely stable in attaining catechol oxidation.
Catechol is extracted from the wastes of oil refineries which is source of o-benzoquinone, the starting material for many organic syntheses. Catechol can produce o-benzoquinone by releasing two electrons via a reversible reaction which could be exploited for fuel cell construction. Thus, for conversion of catechol into o-benzoquinone is crucial and requires a robust catalyst. In the present article, we propose IrOx immobilized ITO surface for efficient electrocatalytic oxidation of catechol. The catalysis and kinetics have been investigated using Cyclic Voltammetric (CV) technique in acidic medium. The Ir(III) species involves one electron transfer redox reaction on the ITO surface and the conversion of Ir(III) to Ir(IV) has been identified to catalyze catechol oxidation reaction. The concentration of the electro active Ir species on the ITO surface was calculated to be (3.32 ± 0.22) × 10−9 mol cm−2.