Aqueous electrochemistry supporting electrolyte

We shall not attempt to review exhaustively the literature on interfacial electrochemistry in solid state systems. Instead we shall indicate the appropriate theoretical models for different situations. Most of the models and the related equations were developed some time ago in relation to the electrochemistry of aqueous systems. However, we will not assume a knowledge of these models on the part of the reader. It is important to realise that a direct transposition of models from one situation to another is fraught with difficulty, particularly since in aqueous electrochemistry a supporting electrolyte is generally present. 

It was seen in the previous paragraphs that the presence of a supporting electrolyte leads to a situation in which a charged species may diffuse in an essentially field-free environment. Under these circumstances. Tick s law of diffusion may be solved for the appropriate boundary conditions, and the electrical response of the system may be modeled by a transmission line composed of distributed elements. Although such situations are very common in aqueous electrochemistry, the analogous situa-... 

Electrochemical promotion (EP) denotes electrically controlled modification of heterogeneous catalytic activity and/or selectivity. This recently discovered phenomenon has made a strong impact on modem electrochemistry/ catalysis/ and surface science. Although it manifests itself also using aqueous electrolytes/ the phenomenon has mainly been investigated in gas-phase reactions over metal and metal oxide catalysts. In the latter case, the catalyst, which is an electron conductor, is deposited in the form of a porous thin film on a solid electrolyte support, which is an ion conductor at the temperature of the catalytic reaction. Application of an electric potential on the catalyst/support interface or, which is equivalent, passing an electric current between catalyst and support, causes a concomitant change also in the properties of the adjacent catalyst/gas interface, where the catalytic reaction takes place. This results in an alteration of the catalytic behaviour, controllable with the applied potential or current. 

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