Electrode double layer interface

While many of the standard electroanalytical techniques utilized with metal electrodes can be employed to characterize the semiconductor-electrolyte interface, one must be careful not to interpret the semiconductor response in terms of the standard diagnostics employed with metal electrodes. Fundamental to our understanding of the metal-electrolyte interface is the assumption that all potential applied to the back side of a metal electrode will appear at the metal electrode surface. That is, in the case of a metal electrode, a potential drop only appears on the solution side of the interface (i.e., via the electrode double layer and the bulk electrolyte resistance). This is not the case when a semiconductor is employed. If the semiconductor responds in an ideal manner, the potential applied to the back side of the electrode will be dropped across the internal electrode-electrolyte interface. This has two implications (1) the potential applied to a semiconducting electrode does not control the electrochemistry, and (2) in most cases there exists a built-in barrier to charge transfer at the semiconductor-electrolyte interface, so that, electrochemical reversible behavior can never exist. In order to understand the radically different response of a semiconductor to an applied external potential, one must explore the solid-state band structure of the semiconductor. This topic is treated at an introductory level in References 1 and 2. A more complete discussion can be found in References 3, 4, 5, and 6, along with a detailed review of the photoelectrochemical response of a wide variety of inorganic semiconducting materials. 

The electrode surface participates actively in an electrochemical reaction sequence by providing adsorption sites for at least one reactant and for the reaction intermediates. Thus, the reaction rate and selectivity depend strongly upon the surface properties and its mode of interaction with reactive species and electrolytes. The existence, however, of the structured double layer interface and of the electric field under which electrosorption takes place distinguishes the latter from gas phase adsorption. Electrolyte ions, solvent molecules, and impurities may adsorb and compete with reactants for surface sites or they may poison the surface or contribute to surface changes under reaction. Despite the wealth of experimental information on the potential dependence of surface coverage and on the nature of some adsorbing species, a fundamental understanding of electrosorption mechanisms is still incomplete. 

The typical IL system could be considered as a solvent-free system, in which it can simplify the EIS analysis significantly which spurs its wide use in the characterization of the IL-electrode interface. However, due to low mobility of ions in an IL and multiple molecular interactions present in an IL, more time is needed to reach to a steady state of IL-electrode interface structure and arrangement, when a potential is applied. Furthermore, the electron-transfer process in ILs is different from that in traditional solvents containing electrolytes. Thus, the interfacial structures of IL are more complex than other systems. Even the electrode geometry could affect the EIS results of IL systems. It is noted that the bulk ILs could not be simply described by a resistor (R ) as in classic electrochemical systems. And the electrode double layer in IL electrolyte couldn t be simply depicted as a capacitor. So the Randle equivalent circuit is not sufficient to describe an IL system. Significant efforts have been made to illustrate the properties of diffusion layer and the bulk ILs with equivalent circuits. However, currently there is no general equivalent circuit model to describe the interface of an IL system. 

When two conducting phases come into contact with each other, a redistribution of charge occurs as a result of any electron energy level difference between the phases. If the two phases are metals, electrons flow from one metal to the other until the electron levels equiUbrate. When an electrode, ie, electronic conductor, is immersed in an electrolyte, ie, ionic conductor, an electrical double layer forms at the electrode—solution interface resulting from the unequal tendency for distribution of electrical charges in the two phases. Because overall electrical neutrality must be maintained, this separation of charge between the electrode and solution gives rise to a potential difference between the two phases, equal to that needed to ensure equiUbrium. 

On the electrode side of the double layer the excess charges are concentrated in the plane of the surface of the electronic conductor. On the electrolyte side of the double layer the charge distribution is quite complex. The potential drop occurs over several atomic dimensions and depends on the specific reactivity and atomic stmcture of the electrode surface and the electrolyte composition. The electrical double layer strongly influences the rate and pathway of electrode reactions. The reader is referred to several excellent discussions of the electrical double layer at the electrode—solution interface (26-28). 

Pig. 3. Representation of the electrical double layer at a metal electrode—solution interface for the case where anions occupy the inner Helmholtz plane... 

Fig. 7. (a) Simple battery circuit diagram where represents the capacitance of the electrical double layer at the electrode—solution interface, W depicts the Warburg impedance for diffusion processes, and R is internal resistance and (b) the corresponding Argand diagram of the behavior of impedance with frequency, for an idealized battery system, where the characteristic behavior of A, ohmic B, activation and C, diffusion or concentration (Warburg... 

In electrode kinetics a relationship is sought between the current density and the composition of the electrolyte, surface overpotential, and the electrode material. This microscopic description of the double layer indicates how stmcture and chemistry affect the rate of charge-transfer reactions. Generally in electrode kinetics the double layer is regarded as part of the interface, and a macroscopic relationship is sought. For the general reaction... 

The behavior of simple and molecular ions at the electrolyte/electrode interface is at the core of many electrochemical processes. The complexity of the interactions demands the introduction of simplifying assumptions. In the classical double layer models due to Helmholtz [120], Gouy and Chapman [121,122], and Stern [123], and in most analytic studies, the molecular nature of the solvent has been neglected altogether, or it has been described in a very approximate way, e.g. as a simple dipolar fluid. Computer simulations... 

The potential difference across the electric double layer A. This cannot be determined in absolute terms but must be defined with reference to another charged interface, i.e. a reference electrode. In the case of a corroding metal the potential is the corrosion potential which arises from the mutual polarisation of the anodic and cathodic reactions constituting the overall corrosion reaction see Section 1.4). 

Activation Overpotential that part of an overpotential (polarisation) that exists across the electrical double layer at an electrode/solution interface and thus directly influences the rate of the electrode process by altering its activation energy. 

The electrical double layer is the array of charged particles and/or oriented dipoles that exists at every material interface. In electrochemistry, such a layer reflects the ionic zones formed in the solution to compensate for the excess of charge on the electrode (qe). A positively charged electrode thus attracts a layer of negative ions (and vice versa). Since the interface must be neutral. qe + qs = 0 (where qs is the charge of the ions in the nearby solution). Accordingly, such a counterlayer is made... 

The charging of the double layer is responsible for the background (residual) current known as the charging current, which limits die detectability of controlled-potential techniques. Such a charging process is nonfaradaic because electrons are not transferred across the electrode-solution interface. It occurs when a potential is applied across the double layer, or when die electrode area or capacitances are changing. Note that the current is the tune derivative of die charge. Hence, when such processes occur, a residual current flows based on die differential equation... 

For an ideally polarizable electrode, q has a unique value for a given set of conditions.1 For a nonpolarizable electrode, q does not have a unique value. It depends on the choice of the set of chemical potentials as independent variables1 and does not coincide with the physical charge residing at the interface. This can be easily understood if one considers that q measures the electric charge that must be supplied to the electrode as its surface area is increased by a unit at a constant potential." Clearly, with a nonpolarizable interface, only part of the charge exchanged between the phases remains localized at the interface to form the electrical double layer. 

For a metal/solution interface, the pcz is as informative as the electron work function is for a metal/vacuum interface.6,15 It is a property of the nature of the metal and of its surface structure (see later discussion) it is sensitive to the presence of impurities. Its value can be used to check the cleanliness and perfection of a metal surface. Its position determines the potential ranges of ionic and nonionic adsorption, and the region where double-layer effects are possible in electrode kinetics.8,10,16... 

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