Cell voltage force

The driving force behind the spontaneous reaction in a voltaic cell is measured by the cell voltage, which is an intensive property, independent of the number of electrons passing through the cell. Cell voltage depends on the nature of the redox reaction and the concentrations of the species involved for the moment, we ll concentrate on the first of these factors. 

Cell voltages (electromotive force of a complete cell)... 

The cell voltage is sometimes called the electromotive force, abbreviated emf. However, this term can be misleading. 

A cell voltage is a potential difference, not a force. The unit of cell voltage, the volt, is not a unit of force. 

La photovoltaic cells, the same redox reaction, OX + e = KED, may be used for both the anode and the cathode. Figure 10-33 shows an eneigy diagram of an operating photovoltaic cell this cell consists of a metallic cathode and a photoexcited n-type semiconductor anode. The electromotive force (the open cell voltage), ph > approximately equals the difference between the flat band potential of... 

From the energy diagram shown in Fig. 10-33, the operating cell voltage, V,, is obtained, as expressed in Eqn. 10-60, by subtracting from the electromotive force AEph the potential barrier of the space charge layer, the cathodic overvoltage t h, and the iR drop in the electrolyte ... 

One crifical paramefer fhaf affecfs fhe fhickness of fhe diffusion layer is fhe compression force used in fhe fuel cell in order fo avoid any gas leaks and to assure good contact between all the components. However, this compressive force can deform the diffusion layer and hence affect the performance of the cell. More information regarding how the compression forces affect the diffusion layer is discussed in Section 4.4.5. Ideally, the material used as the DL should be able to resist this compression force or pressure without affecting most of its parameters. Figure 4.21 shows a schematic of the cell voltage (performance) at a given current density, resistance, and DL porosity as a function of the cell s compression. 

The Galvani potential, 0, of a phase defines the amount of electrical energy, e, required to transport a charge e from an infinitely distant point in a vacuum to a hypothetical point in the interior of the phase where the charge would experience no chemical forces exerted on it. Thus the Daniell cell voltage can be written as ... 

The question now arises as to what factors are responsible for determining the rates at which the various cell processes occur. Thermodynamic arguments permit the feasibility of overall cell reactions to be predicted, but give no information on rates. To understand the latter it is necessary to consider the effects on various parts of the cell of forcing the cell voltage to assume a value different from that of the equilibrium emf. It has been shown above that in the Daniell cell at equilibrium, charge transfer across the zinc/solution interface can be described in terms of processes... 

P The driving force of a cell / V I reaction, measured in volts and called cell voltage, cell potential, or electromotive force, is a function of the natural tendency of one substance to lose electrons and of a second substance to gain electrons. The greater these tendencies, the higher the cell voltage. 

The cell potential E (also called the cell voltage or electromotive force) is an electrical measure of the driving force of the cell reaction. Cell potentials depend on temperature, ion concentrations, and gas pressures. The standard cell potential E° is the cell potential when reactants and products are in their standard states. Cell potentials are related to free-energy changes by the equations AG = —nFE and AG° = —mFE°, where F = 96,500 C/mol e is the faraday, the charge on 1 mol of electrons. 

A single cell delivers a cell voltage between 0.5 and 0.9 V (instead of the theoretical electromotive force [emf] of 1.23 V under standard equilibrium conditions) depending on the working current... 

There are several terms you should be familiar with for voltaic cells. First, the voltage that is impressed across the circuit (that is, the difference in electrical potential between the zinc strip and the copper strip) is known as the cell voltage, which is also occasionally called the cell potential or the electromotive force, EMF. The copper electrode, because it becomes negatively charged and attracts cations, is known as the cathode. The zinc electrode becomes positively charged and is known as the anode. You are expected to know which part of the reaction takes place at the cathode and which part takes place at the anode. These can sometimes be difficult to remember, so a simple mnemonic device can help you distinguish between the two. Oxidation occurs at the Anode (note how each term starts with a vowel), and deduction occurs at the Cathode (note how each term starts with a consonant). 

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