A systematic and comprehensive study on cyclic voltammetric anodic current oscillation (CVACO) at a hanging
mercury drop electrode (HMDE) was carried out for the redox reactions of molecular oxygen (O2), nitrobenzene
(NB), 1,4-dinitrobenzene (DNB), benzoquinone (BQ), 2,3,5,6-tetramethylbenzoquinone (TMBQ), benzophenone
(BP), azobenzene (AB), 2,1,3-benzothiadiazole (BTD), 7,7,8,8-tetracyanoquinodimethane (TCNQ), methyl
viologen dichloride (MV2+), and tris(2,2‘-bipyridine)ruthenium(II) dichloride [Ru(bpy)3
2+] in dimethyl sulfoxide
(DMSO) solutions containing 0.1 M tetraethylammonium perchlorate (TEAP). From the electrocapillary curve
(ECC) obtained using a dropping mercury electrode as well as the capacitance versus potential curves measured
using electrochemical impedance technique, the value of the potential of zero charge (PZC) was estimated to
be −0.27 V versus Ag|AgCl|NaCl (sat.) in a DMSO solution containing 0.1 M TEAP. CVACO was found
to occur only for the redox couples (i.e., BP0/BP•-, O2
0/O2
•-, AB0/AB•-, Ru(bpy)3
2+/Ru(bpy)3
+, BTD0/BTD•-,
NB0/NB•-, DNB0/DNB•-, DNB•-/DNB2-, TMBQ0/TMBQ•-, MV2+/MV•+, and BQ•-/BQ2-) having the formal
potentials (E
0‘ values) more negative than the PZC. CVACO was largely dependent on the concentrations of
redox species and TEAP; for example, in the case of BTD the intensity of CVACO increased with increasing
concentration, and CVACO ceased at high concentrations of TEAP (≥0.5 M). Furthermore, CVACO was
not observed for the BQ0/BQ•- redox couple having E
0‘ (= −0.31 V) near the PZC, and a pronounced cathodic
maximum was observed for the TCNQ•-/TCNQ2- redox couple with E
0‘ (= −0.16 V) more positive than the
PZC. These observations and the factors governing the CVACO are discussed on the basis of the theory
presented for the polarographic maxima of the first kind. The observed CVACO and the cathodic maximum
obtained for the TCNQ•-/TCNQ2- redox couple could be explained in terms of the so-called streaming effect.