Electrosorption cell

Refs. [i] Gileadi E (1967) Electrosorption. Plenum Press, New York [ii] Bockris TOM, Srinivasan S (1969) Fuel cells their electrochemistry. McGraw-Hill, New York, p 96 [iii] Hordnyi G (2002) State of art present knowledge and understanding. In Bard A], Stratmann M, GileadiE, Ur-bakh M (eds) Thermodynamics and electrified interfaces. Encyclopedia of Electrochemistry, vol. 1. Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, p 349... 

Chapter 3, by Rolando Guidelli, deals with another aspect of major fundamental interest, the process of electrosorption at electrodes, a topic central to electrochemical surface science Electrosorption Valency and Partial Charge Transfer. Thermodynamic examination of electrochemical adsorption of anions and atomic species, e.g. as in underpotential deposition of H and metal adatoms at noble metals, enables details of the state of polarity of electrosorbed species at metal interfaces to be deduced. The bases and results of studies in this field are treated in depth in this chapter and important relations to surface -potential changes at metals, studied in the gas-phase under high-vacuum conditions, will be recognized. Results obtained in this field of research have significant relevance to behavior of species involved in electrocatalysis, e.g. in fuel-cells, as treated in chapter 4, and in electrodeposition of metals. 

Electrosorption of Species Containing One Carbon Atom. - The investigation of the electrosorption and electrooxidation of CH3OH and the possible intermediates of its oxidation, HCHO, HCOOH, CO, has been a central task for fuel cell-oriented electrocatalytic research for several decades. Despite this long history, there is a continuous interest in these problems presumably for the very reason that we are still far from an inexpensive practical commercial realization of fuel cells. Review papers on this field... 

Electrosorption and Oxidation of Methanol. - The electrosorption and oxidation of methanol have been studied thoroughly during the last three decades. These studies were motivated mostly by the fuel cell research. The field has been reviewed several times recently therefore, in the following discussion only some results reported in the last 2 to 3 years will be considered after a short survey on the main tendencies reviewed in the papers mentioned above. 

The sensitivity of such methods depends on the ratio between the volume of the solution and the surface area of the electrode. A typical electrochemical cell has about 10 cm of solution per cm of surface area. In view of the very small amounts of material needed to form a monolayer, there is a need to increase the sensitivity of this type of measurement, by using a high-surface-area electrode and low concentration in solution. The surface-to-volume ratio can also be increased by using porous electrodes or by rolling up an electrode in a minimum volume of solution. Care must be taken, however, to ensure that potential control and uniformity are maintained in this type of measurement, remembering that the extent of electrosorption is potential dependent. 

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