The peroxidase-like catalytic activity of ferrocene and its application in the biomimetic synthesis of microsphere polyaniline

It is found for the first time that ferrocene (Fc) can be used as a peroxidase mimic to catalyze the oxidation of hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) in this experiment. Hydroxyl radicals (OH˙), one product from oxidation reactions, oxidizes TMB (colorless solution) to TMBOX (blue solution). Double-reciprocal plots present that the catalysis mechanism of Fc in H2O2 oxidation is consistent with the ping-pong mechanism. Additionally, Fc was successfully utilized for polyaniline (PANI) microsphere synthesis in the presence of H2O2. Compared with the control, better physical and chemical properties of PANI synthesized in the presence of Fc are found in this study.