Exploring the role of porphyrin films in graphite electrode protection

Graphite is the primary sorce of electrodes used in both industrial production and basic research. Under electrical stress graphitic electrodes can undergo degradations, delmainations and aging processes due to the intercalation of chemical species between the graphene layers. All these events cause significant loss of performance and activity. Surface protection could represent the solution to avoid degradative intercalations, for example by mean of overlayed thin films, if suitable materials and conditions are met. In this contribution, we will cover the current state-of-the-art about the surface protection of a higly oriented pyrolytic graphite (HOPG) electrode with small molecules. The use of porphirins will be discussed, considering aspects related to deposition protocols, surface interactions and protections and the morphological and chemical stabilities of the molecules. Finally it will be presented a short overview on the synthesis of porphyrins evidencing the multifacet potentiality of this class of compounds as protecting agents.