Thermodynamics, electrochemical reactions

The methods introduced so far can be used to evaluate elementary electrochemical reaction thermodynamics. Evaluation of activation barriers is necessary for consideration of kinetics, which determines the current associated with... 

Whenever energy is transformed from one form to another, an iaefficiency of conversion occurs. Electrochemical reactions having efficiencies of 90% or greater are common. In contrast, Carnot heat engine conversions operate at about 40% efficiency. The operation of practical cells always results ia less than theoretical thermodynamic prediction for release of useful energy because of irreversible (polarization) losses of the electrode reactions. The overall electrochemical efficiency is, therefore, defined by ... 

Activation Processes. To be useful ia battery appHcations reactions must occur at a reasonable rate. The rate or abiUty of battery electrodes to produce current is determiaed by the kinetic processes of electrode operations, not by thermodynamics, which describes the characteristics of reactions at equihbrium when the forward and reverse reaction rates are equal. Electrochemical reaction kinetics (31—35) foUow the same general considerations as those of bulk chemical reactions. Two differences are a potential drop that exists between the electrode and the solution because of the electrical double layer at the electrode iaterface and the reaction that occurs at iaterfaces that are two-dimensional rather than ia the three-dimensional bulk. 

The thermodynamics of electrochemical reactions can be understood by considering the standard electrode potential, the potential of a reaction under standard conditions of temperature and pressure where all reactants and products are at unit activity. Table 1 Hsts a variety of standard electrode potentials. The standard potential is expressed relative to the standard hydrogen reference electrode potential in units of volts. A given reaction tends to proceed in the anodic direction, ie, toward the oxidation reaction, if the potential of the reaction is positive with respect to the standard potential. Conversely, a movement of the potential in the negative direction away from the standard potential encourages a cathodic or reduction reaction. 

F r d ic Current. The double layer is a leaky capacitor because Faradaic current flows around it. This leaky nature can be represented by a voltage-dependent resistance placed in parallel and called the charge-transfer resistance. Basically, the electrochemical reaction at the electrode surface consists of four thermodynamically defined states, two each on either side of a transition state. These are (11) (/) oxidized species beyond the diffuse double layer and n electrons in the electrode and (2) oxidized species within the outer Helmholtz plane and n electrons in the electrode, on one side of the transition state and (J) reduced species within the outer Helmholtz plane and (4) reduced species beyond the diffuse double layer, on the other. 

Nemst Equation the thermodynamic relationship between the equilibrium potential of an electrochemical reaction and the activities of the species involved in that reaction. 

Potential-pH Equilibrium Diagram (Pourbaix Diagram) diagram of the equilibrium potentials of electrochemical reactions as a function of the pH of the solution. The diagram shows the phases that are thermodynamically stable when a metal reacts with water or an aqueous solution of specified ions. 

Similarly to chemical reactions, it is possible to treat electrochemical reactions in equilibrium with the help of the thermodynamics. 

The exchange of energy connected with a chemical or electrochemical reaction is described by thermodynamic laws and data, as shown in Chapter 1 of this book. Since these laws apply only to the state of... 

Cyclic voltammetry is the most widely used technique for acquiring qualitative information about electrochemical reactions. The power of cyclic voltammetry results from its ability to rapidly provide considerable information on the thermodynamics of redox processes, on the kinetics of heterogeneous electron-transfer reactions, and on coupled chemical reactions or adsorption processes. Cyclic voltammetry is often the first experiment performed in an electroanalytical study. In particular, it offers a rapid location of redox potentials of the electroactive species, and convenient evaluation of the effect of media upon the redox process. 

The thermodynamic principles of the Cd-Te-water system are depicted in the Pourbaix diagram of Fig. 3.5 [82]. The corresponding electrochemical reactions of CdTe reduction and oxidation are shown in Table 3.1. 

For thermodynamic reasons, an electrochemical reaction can occur only within a dehnite region of potentials a cathodic reaction at electrode potentials more negative, an anodic reaction at potentials more positive than the equilibrium potential of that reaction. This condition only implies a possibility that the electrode reaction will occur in the corresponding region of potentials it provides no indication of whether the reaction will actually occur, and if so, what its rate will be. The answers are provided not by thermodynamics but by electrochemical kinetics. 

As a rule, because of the high temperatures, electrochemical reactions in melts are fast and involve little polarization. For such reactions the exchange current densities are as high as 10 to KFmA/cm. Therefore, reactivities in melts (and also in high-temperature systems with solid electrolytes) are usually determined not by kinetic but by thermodynamic features of the system. 

The presence of an (applied) potential at the aqueous/metal interface can, in addition, result in significant differences in the reaction thermodynamics, mechanisms, and structural topologies compared with those found in the absence of a potential. Modeling the potential has been a challenge, since most of today s ab initio methods treat chemical systems in a canonical form whereby the number of electrons are held constant, rather than in the grand canonical form whereby the potential is held constant. Recent advances have been made by mimicking the electrochemical model... 

Regarding the electrode/electrolyte interface, it is important to distinguish between two types of electrochemical systems thermodynamically closed (and in equilibrium) and open systems. While the former can be understood by knowing the equilibrium atomic structure of the interface and the electrochemical potentials of all components, open systems require more information, since the electrochemical potentials within the interface are not necessarily constant. Variations could be caused by electrocatalytic reactions locally changing the concentration of the various species. In this chapter, we will focus on the former situation, i.e., interfaces in equilibrium with a bulk electrode and a multicomponent bulk electrolyte, which are both influenced by temperature and pressures/activities, and constrained by a finite voltage between electrode and electrolyte. 

Cyclic voltammetry is an excellent tool to explore electrochemical reactions and to extract thermodynamic as well as kinetic information. Cyclic voltammetric data of complexes in solution show waves corresponding to successive oxidation and reduction processes. In the localized orbital approximation of ruthenium(II) polypyridyl complexes, these processes are viewed as MC and LC, respectively. Electrochemical and luminescence data are useful for calculating excited state redox potentials of sensitizers, an important piece of information from the point of view of determining whether charge injection into Ti02 is favorable. 

The thermodynamics of dissociative electron transfer reactions were first characterized by Hush12 from thermochemical data in the case of the electrochemical reactions... 

An important example is the corrosion of metals. Most metals are thermodynamically unstable with respect to their oxides. In the presence of water or moisture, they tend to form a more stable compound, a process known as wet corrosion (dry corrosion is not based on electrochemical reactions and will not be considered here). Moisture is never pure water, but contains at least dissolved oxygen, sometimes also other compounds like dissolved salt. So a corroding metal can be thought of as a single electrode in contact with an aqueous solution. The fundamental corrosion reaction is the dissolution of the metal according to ... 

The energy storage and power characteristics of electrochemical energy conversion systems follow directly from the thermodynamic and kinetic formulations for chemical reactions as adapted to electrochemical reactions. First, the basic thermodynamic considerations are treated. The basic thermodynamic equations for a reversible electrochemical transformation are given as... 

For this reaction AG° = —235.76 kj/mol and A/T = —285.15 kj/mol. Fuel cells follow the thermodynamics, kinetics, and operational characteristics for electrochemical systems outlined in sections 1 and 2. The chemical energy present in the combination of hydrogen and oxygen is converted into electrical energy by controlled electrochemical reactions at each of the electrodes in the cell. 

The thermodynamic criterion for spontaneity (feasibility) of a chemical and electrochemical reaction is that the change in free energy, AG have a negative value. Free-energy change in an oxidation-reduction reaction can be calculated from knowledge of the cell voltage ... 

Usually, the thermodynamic properties involved in the electrochemical reactions of Si element are presented in the Pourbaix diagram showing the lines where one species is transformed into another as a function of the potential and pH values. In the case of Si, this presentation is not necessary. In fact, the standard... 

Correlations between the Structures of PCMs and the Thermodynamics of their Electrochemical Reactions... 

This methodology has been applied for determining the relative composition of alloys [225], amalgams [226], and mixed crystals [227], among others [74-78], based on peak current measurements. The essential requisite is that both electroactive components behave independently—i.e., that the components of a mechanical mixture do not influence each other with respect to their thermodynamic activities in electrochemical reactions [77]. In Fig. 4.4, theoretical calibration plots for the absolute peak current, when the amount of mixture is constant for each measurement (left) and for the percentage peak current (right), are shown [77, 228]. 

In this chapter, we will first discuss thermodynamic and kinetic concepts of electrified interfaces and point out some distinct features of electrochemical reaction processes. Subsequently, we will relate these concepts to chemical bonding of adsorbates on electrode surfaces. Finally, a discussion of the surface electrocatalytic mechanism of some important technological electrochemical reactions will highlight the importance of understanding chemical bonding at electrified surfaces. 

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