Electrode-electrolyte interface electrodes

Wagner number (Wa) — is the dimensionless parameter describing the so-called secondary -> current distribution at an electrode electrolyte interface (-> electrode, -> electrolyte, -> interface) under the conditions when -> overpotential cannot be neglected, but the -> concentration polarization is negligible [i]. This number is defined as... 

When we begin to investigate an electrochemical system, we normally know little about the processes or mechanisms within the system. Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS) can be a powerful approach to help us establish a hypothesis using equivalent circuit models. A data-fitted equivalent circuit model will suggest valuable chemical processes or mechanisms for the electrochemical system being studied. From Chapter 1, we know that a fuel cell is actually an electrochemical system involving electrode/electrolyte interfaces, electrode reactions, as well as mass transfer processes. Therefore, EIS can also be a powerful tool to diagnose fuel cell properties and performance. 

The cell is placed in the reactive gas atmosphere. Several interfaces may be identified in such a system electrode/electrolyte interfaces, electrode/gas interfaces, and three-phase boundaries (tpb). Due to the different mechanisms of electric conductivity in electrodes and electrolyte, polarization of the catalyst by current application involves... 

The Nemst equation above for the dependence of the equilibrium potential of redox electrodes on the activity of solution species is also valid for uncharged species in the gas phase that take part in electron exchange reactions at the electrode-electrolyte interface. For the specific equilibrium process involved in the reduction of chlorine ... 

The presented examples clearly demonstrate tliat a combination of several different teclmiques is urgently recommended for a complete characterization of tire chemical composition and tire atomic stmcture of electrode surfaces and a reliable interiDretation of tire related results. Stmcture sensitive metliods should be combined witli spectroscopic and electrochemical teclmiques. Besides in situ techniques such as SXS, XAS and STM or AFM, ex situ vacuum teclmiques have proven tlieir significance for tlie investigation of tlie electrode/electrolyte interface. 

A signihcant problem in tire combination of solid electrolytes with oxide electrodes arises from the difference in thermal expansion coefficients of the materials, leading to rupture of tire electrode/electrolyte interface when the fuel cell is, inevitably, subject to temperature cycles. Insufficient experimental data are available for most of tire elecuolytes and the perovskites as a function of temperature and oxygen partial pressure, which determines the stoichiometty of the perovskites, to make a quantitative assessment at the present time, and mostly decisions must be made from direct experiment. However, Steele (loc. cit.) observes that tire electrode Lao.eSro.rCoo.aFeo.sOs-j functions well in combination widr a ceria-gadolinia electrolyte since botlr have closely similar thermal expansion coefficients. 

In galvanic cells it is only possible to determine the potential difference as a voltage between two half-cells, but not the absolute potential of the single electrode. To measure the potential difference it has to be ensured that an electrochemical equilibrium exists at the phase boundaries, e.g., at the electrode/electrolyte interface. At the least it is required that there is no flux of current in the external and internal circuits. 

Traditionally, the chemical stability of the electrode/electrolyte interface and its electronic properties have not been given as much consideration as structural aspects of solid electrolytes, in spite of the fact that the proper operation of a battery often depends more on the interface than on the solid electrolyte. Because of the high ionic conductivity in the electrolyte and the high electronic conductivity in the electrode, the voltage falls completely within a very narrow region at the electrolyte/electrode interface. 

By tradition, electrochemistry has been considered a branch of physical chemistry devoted to macroscopic models and theories. We measure macroscopic currents, electrodic potentials, consumed charges, conductivities, admittance, etc. All of these take place on a macroscopic scale and are the result of multiple molecular, atomic, or ionic events taking place at the electrode/electrolyte interface. Great efforts are being made by electrochemists to show that in a century where the most brilliant star of physical chemistry has been quantum chemistry, electrodes can be studied at an atomic level and elemental electron transfers measured.1 The problem is that elemental electrochemical steps and their kinetics and structural consequences cannot be extrapolated to macroscopic and industrial events without including the structure of the surface electrode. 

The electrochemical oxidation of monomers such as pyrrole,2-5 thiophene,6-9 aniline,10-13 etc., or their derivatives, initiates a polymerization process at the electrode/electrolyte interface that promotes the formation of a polymeric film that adheres to the electrode. A similar homogeneous polymerization process can be initiated by chemical oxidation or chemical polymerization.14-21 Some monomers can be polymerized as well by electrochemical or chemical reduction. 

Another technique consists of MC measurements during potential modulation. In this case the MC change is measured synchronously with the potential change at an electrode/electrolyte interface and recorded. To a first approximation this information is equivalent to a first derivative of the just-explained MC-potential curve. However, the signals obtained will depend on the frequency of modulation, since it will influence the charge carrier profiles in the space charge layer of the semiconductor. 

Up to now only qualitative data have been available on potential-dependent MC measurements of electrochemical interfaces. When metals or other highly conducting materials are used, or when liquids are in play, special care has to be taken to allow access of microwave power to the active electrode/electrolyte interface. 

Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy leads to information on surface states and representative circuits of electrode/electrolyte interfaces. Here, the measurement technique involves potential modulation and the detection of phase shifts with respect to the generated current. The driving force in a microwave measurement is the microwave power, which is proportional to E2 (E = electrical microwave field). Therefore, for a microwave impedance measurement, the microwave power P has to be modulated to observe a phase shift with respect to the flux, the transmitted or reflected microwave power APIP. Phase-sensitive microwave conductivity (impedance) measurements, again provided that a reliable theory is available for combining them with an electrochemical impedance measurement, should lead to information on the kinetics of surface states and defects and the polarizability of surface states, and may lead to more reliable information on real representative circuits of electrodes. We suspect that representative electrical circuits for electrode/electrolyte interfaces may become directly determinable by combining phase-sensitive electrical and microwave conductivity measurements. However, up to now, in this early stage of development of microwave electrochemistry, only comparatively simple measurements can be evaluated. 

When a turnover of minority carriers is assumed to take place only at the electrode/electrolyte interface (which is reasonable), the time-dependent change in the integral of minority carriers f Ap(jc, t)dx can be expressed as... 

Microwave power and its effect on the electrode/electrolyte interface, 439 Microwave region, Hall experiments, 453 Microwave spectroscopy, intensity modulated photo currents, 508 Microwave transients for nano crystalline desensitized cells, 514 Microwave transmission, as a function of magnetic field, 515 Minority carriers... 

It is worth emphasizing that although overpotentials are usually associated with electrode-electrolyte interfaces, in reality they refer to, and are measured as, deviations of the potential (

associated with an electrode and not with an electrode-electrolyte interface, although the nature of this interface will, in general, dictate the magnitude of the measured overpotential. 

The activation overpotential Tiac,w is due to slow charge transfer reactions at the electrode-electrolyte interface and is related to current via the Butler-Volmer equation (4.7). A slow chemical reaction (e.g. adsorption, desorption, spillover) preceding or following the charge-transfer step can also contribute to the development of activation overpotential. 

The thickness 51 of a cyclic voltammogram at a fixed UWR value also conveys useful information. It is related to the scan rate u and to the capacitance Cd of the electrode-electrolyte interface via ... 

Lyden et al. [92] used in situ electrical impedance measurements to investigate the role of disorder in polysulfide PEC with electrodeposited, polycrystalline CdSe photoanodes. Their results were consistent with disorder-dominated percolation conduction and independent of any CdS formed on the anode surface (as verified by measurements in sulfide-free electrolyte). The source of the observed frequency dispersion was located at the polycrystalline electrode/electrolyte interface. 

It follows from Eqs. (2.15) and (2.16) that for a given electrode, the value of electrode potential corresponds to the Galvani potential of the electrode-electrolyte interface, up to a constant term E = + const. If for any reason the value of the... 

NonequiUbrium Open-Circuit Potentials Different reasons exist for lack of equilibrium at electrode-electrolyte interfaces even in the absence of an electric current ... 

The EMF values of galvanic cells and the electrode potentials are usually determined isothermally, when all parts of the cell, particularly the two electrode-electrolyte interfaces, are at the same temperature. The EMF values will change when this temperature is varied. According to the well-known thermodynamic Gibbs-Helmholtz equation, which for electrochemical systems can be written as... 

At a definite value of the electrode potential E, the charge of the electrode s surface and hence the value of drop to zero. This potential is called the point of zero charge (PZC). The metal surface is positively charged at potentials more positive than the PZC and is negatively charged at potentials more negative than the PZC. The point of zero charge is a characteristic parameter for any electrode-electrolyte interface. The concept of PZC is of exceptional importance in electrochemistry. 

Adsorption phenomena at electrode-electrolyte interfaces have a nnmber of characteristic special features. 

---