Adiabatic Electrochemical Electron Transfer Reactions

The smallness of the electron transmission coefficient for the transition from individual energy levels does not mean that aU electrochemical electron transfer reactions should be nonadiabatic. If the inequality opposite to Eq. (34.33) is fulfilled. 

The physical picture of the transition is different here from that for nonadiabatic reaction. Equation (34.34) shows that the probability of electron transfer becomes equal to 1 when the acceptor energy level passes a small energy interval Ae 1/(2jiYlzP) near the Fermi level. However, unUke the nonadiabatic case, 

In terms of free-energy surfaces, multiple electron transitions correspond to multiple transitions between various free-energy surfaces of the initial and final states, and the system in fact moves along some effective potential profile. Multiple electron transitions allow one to speak about an average occupation njJ q ) of the 

The height of the potential barrier is lower than that for nonadiabatic reactions and depends on the interaction between the acceptor and the metal. However, at not too large values of the effective eiectrochemical Landau-Zener parameter the difference in the activation barriers is insignihcant. Taking into account the fact that the effective eiectron transmission coefficient is 1 here, one concludes that the rate of the adiabatic outer-sphere electron transfer reaction is practically independent of the electronic properties of the metal electrode. 

Approximate calculation of the integral over 8 in Eq. (34.27) shows that the ejfective electron transmission coefficient for nonadiabatic reactions is equal to 

---

Both the initial- and the final-state wavefunctions are stationary solutions of their respective Hamiltonians. A transition between these states must be effected by a perturbation, an interaction that is not accounted for in these Hamiltonians. In our case this is the electronic interaction between the reactant and the electrode. We assume that this interaction is so small that the transition probability can be calculated from first-order perturbation theory. This limits our treatment to nonadiabatic reactions, which is a severe restriction. At present there is no satisfactory, fully quantum-mechanical theory for adiabatic electrochemical electron-transfer reactions. 

Medvedev, LG. (2006) The effect of the electron-electron interaction on the pre-exponential factor of the rate constant of the adiabatic electrochemical electron transfer reaction. Journal of Eiectroanaiytical Chemistry, 598,1-14. 

Koper, M.T.M., Mohr, J.H., Schmickler, W. (1997). Quantum effects in adiabatic electrochemical electron-transfer reactions. Chem. Phys. 220 95-114. 

Marcus stressed that only harmonic modes U = were involved in the ion-solvent interactions and went further than Weiss in formulating a simple equation for the rate of adiabatic electron transfer, taking the case of an isotopic reaction so that the AG° term was eliminated. Under this condition and using Eq. (9.32), the current density (or electrochemical reaction rate) at a given overpotential t], in the cathodic direction (T] is negative) is... 

In electrochemical kinetics, this model corresponds to the Butler-Vohner equation widely used for the electrode reaction rate. The latter postulates an exponential (Tafel) dependence of both partial faradaic currents, anodic and cathodic, on the overall interfacial potential difference. This assumption can be rationalized if the electron transfer (ET) takes place between the electrode and the reactant separated by the above-mentioned compact layer, that is, across the whole area of the potential variation within the framework of the Helmholtz model. An additional hypothesis is the absence of a strong variation of the electronic transmission coefficient", for example, in the case of adiabatic reactions. 

Marcus[195] gave a quantitative interpretation of this idea and above all, the role of solvent rearrangement within the framework of the absolute rate theory. Later, he also extended these concepts to electrochemical processes[196]. Similar concepts were also developed by Hush[197,198]. An important result of this work was the establishment of the relation between the transfer coefficient for adiabatic reactions and the charge distribution in the transient state. Gerischer[93,199] proposed a very useful and lucid treatment of the process of electron transfer in reactions with metallic as well as semiconductor electrodes. While the works mentioned above were mainly based on transition state theory, a systematic quantum-mechanical analysis of the problem was started by Levich, Dogonadze, and Chizmadzhev[200-202] and continued in a series of investigations by the same group. They extensively used the results and methods of solid state physics, and above all the Landau-Pekar polaron theory[203]. 

---