Electrolysis controlled-potential

CPE constant potential electrolysis, controlled potential electrolysis... 

IR drop, and the overpotential. As a consequence, the only practical way of achieving separation of species whose electrode potentials differ by a few tenths of a volt is to measure the cathode potential continuously against a reference electrode whose potential is known. The applied cell potential can then be adjusted to maintain the cathode potential at the desired level. An analysis performed in this way is called a controlled-potential electrolysis. Controlled-potential methods are discussed in Sections 22C-2 and 22D-4. 

Besides its obvious application to preparative electrolysis, controlled-potential electrolysis (CPE) also can aid in mechanistic analysis of the electrode reaction. The treatment of coupled chemical reactions is simpler theoretically in CPE than in most other electrochemical methods, because the solution can be treated as being homogeneous, rather than having to account for concentration changes as a function of distance from the electrode. The mathematics are more straightforward. 

Coulometric methods of analysis are based on an exhaustive electrolysis of the analyte. By exhaustive we mean that the analyte is quantitatively oxidized or reduced at the working electrode or reacts quantitatively with a reagent generated at the working electrode. There are two forms of coulometry controlled-potential coulometry, in which a constant potential is applied to the electrochemical cell, and controlled-current coulometry, in which a constant current is passed through the electrochemical cell. 

Minimizing Electrolysis Time The current-time curve for controlled-potential coulometry in Figure 11.20 shows that the current decreases continuously throughout electrolysis. An exhaustive electrolysis, therefore, may require a long time. Since time is an important consideration in choosing and designing analytical methods, the factors that determine the analysis time need to be considered. 

From this equation we see that increasing k leads to a shorter analysis time. For this reason controlled-potential coulometry is carried out in small-volume electrochemical cells, using electrodes with large surface areas and with high stirring rates. A quantitative electrolysis typically requires approximately 30-60 min, although shorter or longer times are possible. 

Studies aimed at characterizing the mechanisms of electrode reactions often make use of coulometry for determining the number of electrons involved in the reaction. To make such measurements a known amount of a pure compound is subject to a controlled-potential electrolysis. The coulombs of charge needed to complete the electrolysis are used to determine the value of n using Faraday s law (equation 11.23). 

A 0.3619-g sample of tetrachloropicolinic acid, C6HNO2CI4, is dissolved in distilled water, transferred to a 1000-mL volumetric flask, and diluted to volume. An exhaustive controlled-potential electrolysis of a 10.00-mL portion of this solution at a spongy silver cathode requires 5.374 C of charge. What is the value of n for this reduction reaction ... 

In controlled-potential coulometry, accuracy is determined by current efficiency and the determination of charge. Provided that no interferents are present that are easier to oxidize or reduce than the analyte, current efficiencies of greater than 99.9% are easily obtained. When interferents are present, however, they can often be eliminated by applying a potential such that the exhaustive electrolysis of the interferents is possible without the simultaneous electrolysis of the analyte. Once the interferents have been removed the potential can be switched to a level at... 

Anodic stripping voltammetry consists of two steps (Figure 11.37). The first is a controlled potential electrolysis in which the working electrode, usually a hanging mercury drop or mercury film, is held at a cathodic potential sufficient to deposit the metal ion on the electrode. For example, with Cu + the deposition reaction is... 

The electrochemical route to duoroaromatics (90) based on controlled potential electrolysis in the absence of hydrogen duoride (platinum anode, +2.4 V acetonitrile solvent tetraalkylammonium duoride electrolyte) has not been commercialized. However, considerable industrial interest in the electrochemical approach stiU exists (91—93). 

In electrolysis at controlled potential, the quantity of electricity Q (coulombs) passed from the beginning of the determination to time t is given by... 

If a commercial polarograph which includes a potentiostat is employed, then the three-electrode procedure (Sections 16.7 and 16.8) is conveniently used with the controlled potential supplied by the potentiostat applied between the dropping electrode and the calomel reference electrode, while the electrolysis current flows between the working (mercury) electrode and the auxiliary... 

One possible reason for the reluctance of non-electrochemists to venture into this field is that in contrast to the electrochemists claim that controlled potential electrolysis offers a method for the selective introduction of energy into molecules, many electrode reactions carried out at a controlled potential have still been reported to give low yields and a diversity of products. The electrode potential is, however, only one of several variables and the lack of selectivity in the electrode process may be attributed to a failure to understand and to control all the parameters of the overall electrode reaction. 

Controlled potential electrolysis of the substrates, at —1.4V vs. SCE, at a carbon felt electrode on which only 3.6x10" mol Bjj were immobilized (approx. 1 X 10 ° mol cm" ) resulted in the production of 76pmol of valeronitrile 16, corresponding to a turnover number of 2100 This example shows that the combination of inner sphere redox mediators and high surface electrodes is promising. 

Figure 3. Controlled-potential electrolysis cell for generation of radical ions in the cavity of esr spectrometer [from (16) by permission of the authors and the American Chemical Society]. 

The kinetics of the reduction of chlorate ion by Ir(III) have been determined by controlled-potential electrolysis to be ... 

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