Charged interface, free energy

A general prerequisite for the existence of a stable interface between two phases is that the free energy of formation of the interface be positive were it negative or zero, fluctuations would lead to complete dispersion of one phase in another. As implied, thermodynamics constitutes an important discipline within the general subject. It is one in which surface area joins the usual extensive quantities of mass and volume and in which surface tension and surface composition join the usual intensive quantities of pressure, temperature, and bulk composition. The thermodynamic functions of free energy, enthalpy and entropy can be defined for an interface as well as for a bulk portion of matter. Chapters II and ni are based on a rich history of thermodynamic studies of the liquid interface. The phase behavior of liquid films enters in Chapter IV, and the electrical potential and charge are added as thermodynamic variables in Chapter V. 

The term G T, a,, A/, ) is the Gibbs free energy of the full electrochemical system x < x < X2 in Fig. 5.4). It includes the electrode surface, which is influenced by possible reconstructions, adsorption, and charging, and the part of the electrolyte that deviates from the uniform ion distribution of the bulk electrolyte. The importance of these requirements becomes evident if we consider the theoretical modeling. If the interface model is chosen too small, then the excess charges on the electrode are not fuUy considered and/or, within the interface only part of the total potential drop is included, resulting in an electrostatic potential value at X = X2 that differs from the requited bulk electrolyte value < s-However, if we constrain such a model to reproduce the electrostatic potential... 

Huber et al. [12] (see Table 2). Another way of explaining this effect is the following when the interface is charged the ions experience a stronger field that pulls them toward the other side. Thus they penetrate further into the other solution, and pull a few of their surrounding molecules with them. As expected, this effect is more marked when the free energy of transfer of the ions is small, because then the energy barrier at the interface is lower. 

As mentioned above, the PCM is based on representing the electric polarization of the dielectric medium surrounding the solute by a polarization charge density at the solute/solvent boundary. This solvent polarization charge polarizes the solute, and the solute and solvent polarizations are obtained self-consistently by numerical solution of the Poisson equation with boundary conditions on the solute-solvent interface. The free energy of solvation is obtained from the interaction between the polarized solute charge distribution and the self-... 

Since the equations of state of the system are summarized by the curves in Figure 2, all interesting thermodynamic properties of the interface will have a simple representation in such a diagram. We shall consider the free energy of formation of a single charged surface and the interaction free energy due to the overlap of two identical planar double layers. 

The total change in free energy per unit area in charging up the interface is obtained by integrating Equation 14... 

The first integral in Equation 17 is identified as the electrical contribution to the change in free energy in forming the charged interface (3) and may be evaluated using Equation 12... 

We recall that the first integral in Equation 23a represents the change in electrical free energy in forming the diffuse double layer. This contribution to f, the free energy of formation of the charged interface, is positive and hence represents an unfavourable component which opposes the formation of the charged interface. 

Following the early studies on the pure interface, chemical and electrochemical processes at the interface between two immiscible liquids have been studied using the molecular dynamics method. The most important processes for electrochemical research involve charge transfer reactions. Molecular dynamics computer simulations have been used to study the rate and the mechanism of ion transfer across the water/1,2-dichloroethane interface and of ion transfer across a simple model of a liquid/liquid interface, where a direct comparison of the rate with the prediction of simple diffusion models has been made. ° ° Charge transfer of several types has also been studied, including the calculations of free energy curves for electron transfer reactions at a model liquid/liquid... 

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