Double layer adsorption energy

Next, let the focus be on one of the chosen ions, say, Fe3, and its hydration sheath (somewhat distorted by adsorption in the double layer). The energy levels in this ion at 300 K are predominantly in the ground state. Because the tunneling of the electron to the ion is taken to occur from the Fermi level of the metal and to be radiationless, the energy states in the ion are the ones of interest for electron transfer. This means that the electrons will be likely to find a home only in electronic states of the hydrated Fe3 ion, well above the ground state. 

Electrochemical reactions are driven by the potential difference at the solid liquid interface, which is established by the electrochemical double layer composed, in a simple case, of water and two types of counter ions. Thus, provided the electrochemical interface is preserved upon emersion and transfer, one always has to deal with a complex coadsorption experiment. In contrast to the solid/vacuum interface, where for instance metal adsorption can be studied by evaporating a metal onto the surface, electrochemical metal deposition is always a coadsorption of metal ions, counter ions, and probably water dipols, which together cause the potential difference at the surface. This complex situation has to be taken into account when interpreting XPS data of emersed electrode surfaces in terms of chemical shifts or binding energies. 

It is important to propose molecular and theoretical models to describe the forces, energy, structure and dynamics of water near mineral surfaces. Our understanding of experimental results concerning hydration forces, the hydrophobic effect, swelling, reaction kinetics and adsorption mechanisms in aqueous colloidal systems is rapidly advancing as a result of recent Monte Carlo (MC) and molecular dynamics (MO) models for water properties near model surfaces. This paper reviews the basic MC and MD simulation techniques, compares and contrasts the merits and limitations of various models for water-water interactions and surface-water interactions, and proposes an interaction potential model which would be useful in simulating water near hydrophilic surfaces. In addition, results from selected MC and MD simulations of water near hydrophobic surfaces are discussed in relation to experimental results, to theories of the double layer, and to structural forces in interfacial systems. 

The nature of the problem in establishing a mechanistic model of the oxide-electrolyte interface, in which chemical and electrostatic energies are described explicitly, can be appreciated by consideration of the adsorption reaction depicted in Figure 2. The adsorption of a hydrogen ion from the bulk of a monovalent electrolyte is considered. The oxide-solution interface is divided conceptually into four regions the bulk oxide (not shown in the figure), the oxide surface at which the adsorption reaction takes place, the solution part of the double layer containing the counterions, and the bulk of solution. 

The total energy of this adsorption reaction can be found experimentally from the microscopic activity quotient, and separated theoretically into the following components (1) transfer of the ion to be adsorbed from the bulk of solution to the oxide surface plane, at which the mean electrostatic potential is t/>q with respect to the bulk of solution (2) reaction of the adsorbate in the surface plane with a functional group at the surface (3) transfer of a fraction of the counter charge from solution into the solution part of the double layer by attraction of counter ions and (4) transfer of the remainder of the counter charge by expulsion of co-ions from the solution part of the double layer to the solution. 

Figure 2. A complete adsorption reaction, including transfer of counter charge to the solution part of the electric double layer. While the reaction is usually divided conceptually into four steps, it is usually only the total energy of reaction that is observed experimentally.

Valuable information can be obtained from thermal desorption spectra (TDS) spectra, despite the fact that electrochemists are somewhat cautious about the relevance of ultrahigh vacuum data to the solution situation, and the solid/liquid interface in particular. Their objections arise from the fact that properties of the double layer depend on the interaction of the electrode with ions in the solution. Experiments in which the electrode, after having been in contact with the solution, is evacuated and further investigated under high vacuum conditions, can hardly reflect the real situation at the metal/solution interface. However, the TDS spectra can provide valuable information about the energy of water adsorption on metals and its dependence on the surface structure. At low temperatures of 100 to 200 K, frozen molecules of water are fixed at the metal. This case is quite different from the adsorption at the electrode/solution interface, which usually involves a dynamic equilibrium with molecules in the bulk. 

The main, currently used, surface complexation models (SCMs) are the constant capacitance, the diffuse double layer (DDL) or two layer, the triple layer, the four layer and the CD-MUSIC models. These models differ mainly in their descriptions of the electrical double layer at the oxide/solution interface and, in particular, in the locations of the various adsorbing species. As a result, the electrostatic equations which are used to relate surface potential to surface charge, i. e. the way the free energy of adsorption is divided into its chemical and electrostatic components, are different for each model. A further difference is the method by which the weakly bound (non specifically adsorbing see below) ions are treated. The CD-MUSIC model differs from all the others in that it attempts to take into account the nature and arrangement of the surface functional groups of the adsorbent. These models, which are fully described in a number of reviews (Westall and Hohl, 1980 Westall, 1986, 1987 James and Parks, 1982 Sparks, 1986 Schindler and Stumm, 1987 Davis and Kent, 1990 Hiemstra and Van Riemsdijk, 1996 Venema et al., 1996) are summarised here. 

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