Electrode water interface

Researches carried out in electrochemistry on solid electrodes and especially on the mercury-water interface have made a significant contribution to an understanding of interfacial phenomena. Although the electrode-water interfaces are typically... 

Electro Capillarity and the dropping Mercury Electrode. The term electro capillarity derives from the early application of measurements of interfacial tension at the Hg-electrolyte interface. The interfacial tension, y, can be measured readily with a dropping mercury electrode. E.g., the life time of a drop, tmax. is directly proportional to the interfacial tension y. Thus, y is measured as a function of y in presence and absence of a solute that is adsorbed at the Hg-water interface this kind of data is amenable to thermodynamic interpretation of the surface chemical properties of the electrode-water interface. 

Surface potentials at the electrode-solution interface have been described by a number of formalisms. The most successful of these was offered originally by Gouy and Chapman with subsequent elaborations from Chapman, Stem, Bockris etc. (outlined in ref 1 21). McLaughlin (22) and others (outlined in 1) suggested that a combination of the Poisson and Boltzmann equations best describes the state of affairs in the space between the membrane surface and the bulk phase aqueous solution ie. the electrode-water interface. The Poisson-Boltzmann equation, with defined boundary conditions can be solved analytically (1,22) to yield an expression for the surface potential as follows ... 

FIGURE 7.4 Side view models showing the variation of the structure of the electrode/water interface as a function of applied potential for (a-c) Pd(l 1 l)/hydroxide and (d-f) Pdflliyhydride surface terminations. Reprinted from Filhol and Neurock [57], with permission from Wiley. 

Data are available for neutral molecule monolayers at the air/water interface. Together with the results for the temperature coefficient of surface potential of the air/water interface, these data indicate a potential drop of ca. 0.13 V. At the Hg electrode/water Interface, shifts of potential at constant q due to neutral molecule adsorption indicate a surface potential at q = 0 of ca. 0.07 to 0.10 V. Of course, there is no a-priori reason why the direction of orientation of water dipoles should be the same at the air/water interface as at Hg since ... 

The experimental behavior relations between adsorption of various species at the air/water and Hg-electrode/water interfaces have been explored in a number of papers by Frumkin (1926, 1929), and by Kaganovich and Gerovich (1966). Jarvis and Schleman (1968) and Frumkin et al. 

Rhoads, K.G., and Zahn, M., 1987, "Kerr Electro-Optic field and Charge Mapping Measurements Focussing on the Metal Electrode/Water Interface," 1987 Pulsed Power Conference. 

Incidentally, a quantity called the rational potential is defined as E for the mercury-water interface (no added electrolyte) so, in general, = E + 0.480 V if a normal calomel reference electrode is used. 

Eigure 3 schematically depicts the stmcture of the electrode—solution interface. The inner Helmholtz plane (IHP) refers to the distance of closest approach of specifically adsorbed ions, generally anions to the electrode surface. In aqueous systems, water molecules adsorb onto the electrode surface. 

Surface SHG [4.307] produces frequency-doubled radiation from a single pulsed laser beam. Intensity, polarization dependence, and rotational anisotropy of the SHG provide information about the surface concentration and orientation of adsorbed molecules and on the symmetry of surface structures. SHG has been successfully used for analysis of adsorption kinetics and ordering effects at surfaces and interfaces, reconstruction of solid surfaces and other surface phase transitions, and potential-induced phenomena at electrode surfaces. For example, orientation measurements were used to probe the intermolecular structure at air-methanol, air-water, and alkane-water interfaces and within mono- and multilayer molecular films. Time-resolved investigations have revealed the orientational dynamics at liquid-liquid, liquid-solid, liquid-air, and air-solid interfaces [4.307]. 

Many organic electrode processes require the adsorption of the electroactive species at the electrode surface before the electron transfer can occur. This adsorption may take the form of physical or reversible chemical adsorption, as has been commonly observed at a mercury/water interface, or it may take the form of irreversible, dissociative chemical adsorption where bond fracture occurs during the adsorption process and often leads to the complete destruction of the molecule. This latter t q)e of adsorption is particularly prevalent at metals in the platinum group and accounts for their activity as heterogeneous catalysts and as... 

Interfacial water molecules play important roles in many physical, chemical and biological processes. A molecular-level understanding of the structural arrangement of water molecules at electrode/electrolyte solution interfaces is one of the most important issues in electrochemistry. The presence of oriented water molecules, induced by interactions between water dipoles and electrode and by the strong electric field within the double layer has been proposed [39-41]. It has also been proposed that water molecules are present at electrode surfaces in the form of clusters [42, 43]. Despite the numerous studies on the structure of water at metal electrode surfaces using various techniques such as surface enhanced Raman spectroscopy [44, 45], surface infrared spectroscopy [46, 47[, surface enhanced infrared spectroscopy [7, 8] and X-ray diffraction [48, 49[, the exact nature of the structure of water at an electrode/solution interface is still not fully understood. 

Previously, we have proposed that SFG intensity due to interfacial water at quartz/ water interfaces reflects the number of oriented water molecules within the electric double layer and, in turn, the double layer thickness based on the p H dependence of the SFG intensity [10] and a linear relation between the SFG intensity and (ionic strength) [12]. In the case of the Pt/electrolyte solution interface the drop in the potential profile in the vicinity ofelectrode become precipitous as the electrode becomes more highly charged. Thus, the ordered water layer in the vicinity of the electrode surface becomes thiimer as the electrode is more highly charged. Since the number of ordered water molecules becomes smaller, the SFG intensity should become weaker at potentials away from the pzc. This is contrary to the experimental result. 

Figure 4.5 The trajectory of water molecules during an ab initio simulation of the electrode/ electrolyte interface. The disentanglement and then reorganization of water molecules into bilayers can be clearly seen as time progresses [Taylor, 2009b].

Toney MF, Howard JN, Richer J, Borges GL, Gordon JG, Mehoy OR, Wiesler DG, Yee D, Sorensen LB. 1994. Voltage-dependent ordering of water-molecules at an electrode-electrolyte interface. Nature 368 444-446. 

However, these classical models neglect various aspects of the interface, such as image charges, surface polarization, and interactions between the excess charges and the water dipoles. Therefore, the widths of the electrode/electrolyte interfaces are usually underestimated. In addition, the ion distribution within the interfaces is not fixed, which for short times might lead to much stronger electric helds near the electrodes. 

One important advantage of the polarized interface is that one can determine the relative surface excess of an ionic species whose counterions are reversible to a reference electrode. The adsorption properties of an ionic component, e.g., ionic surfactant, can thus be studied independently, i.e., without being disturbed by the presence of counterionic species, unlike the case of ionic surfactant adsorption at nonpolar oil-water and air-water interfaces [25]. The merits of the polarized interface are not available at nonpolarized liquid-liquid interfaces, because of the dependency of the phase-boundary potential on the solution composition. 

Antonenko et al. [540] considered pH gradients forming in the UWL under bulk solution iso-pH conditions. They elegantly expanded on the buffer effect model and made it more general by considering multicomponent buffer mixtures. Direct measurements of the pH gradients (using wire-coated micro-pH electrodes) near the membrane-water interface were described. 

Polarographic studies of organic compounds are very complicated. Many of the compounds behave as surfactants, most of them exhibit multiple-electron charge transfer, and very few are soluble in water. The measurement of the capacitance of the double layer, the cell resistance, and the impedance at the electrode/solution interface presents many difficulties. To examine the versatility of the FR polarographic technique, a few simple water-soluble compounds have been chosen for the study. The results obtained are somewhat exciting because the FR polarographic studies not only help in the elucidation of the mechanism of the reaction in different stages but also enable the determination of kinetic parameters for each step of reduction. 

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