Faradaic reduction

Fig. 18b. 7. (a) Chronoamperogram showing the response due to a triple pulse 500-0-500 with a 3 mm diameter glassy carbon working electrode in 2.0 mM Potassium Ferricyanide in 0.1 M KC1. No current was recorded for the initial potential, 500 mV, where no faradaic reduction took place, (b) The same solution, except with a 10 pm diameter Pt working electrode. Current was recorded for the initial potential at 500 mV for 0-4000 ms where no faradaic reduction took place. Note the magnitude of current scale. 

We note here that the widely employed Clark oxygen electrode differs fundamentally from these devices (18, 63). The Clark device is similar in construction to the apparatus of Figure 2.4.5, in that a polymer membrane traps an electrolyte against a sensing surface. However, the sensor is a platinum electrode, and the analytical signal is the steady-state current flow due to the faradaic reduction of molecular oxygen. 

Figure 17.1.12 Reflectance change v.y. potential for a platinum electrode in 1.0 M HCIO4. i = 30 mV/s. Separate data are shown for parallel and perpendicular polarization. The curves are for Ar-saturated solutions, and the points are for 02-saturated solutions. Note that the reflectance changes are independent of the faradaic reduction of O2, which takes place in the negative part of this range. [From J. D. E. McIntyre and D. M. Kolb, Symp. Faraday Soc., 4, 99 (1970), with permission.]...

Although the applied potential at the working electrode determines if a faradaic current flows, the magnitude of the current is determined by the rate of the resulting oxidation or reduction reaction at the electrode surface. Two factors contribute to the rate of the electrochemical reaction the rate at which the reactants and products are transported to and from the surface of the electrode, and the rate at which electrons pass between the electrode and the reactants and products in solution. 

Residual Current Even in the absence of analyte, a small current inevitably flows through an electrochemical cell. This current, which is called the residual current, consists of two components a faradaic current due to the oxidation or reduction of trace impurities, and the charging current. Methods for discriminating between the faradaic current due to the analyte and the residual current are discussed later in this chapter. 

The residual current, in turn, has two sources. One source is a faradaic current due to the oxidation or reduction of trace impurities in the sample, i . The other source is the charging current, ich> that is present whenever the working electrode s potential changes. 

The electrochemical stability range determines the usefulness of nonaqueous electrolytes for electrochemical studies as well as for applications. It indicates the absence of electrochemical oxidation or reduction of solvent or ions, and of faradaic current... 

The addition of a spillover proton to an adsorbed alkene to yield a secondary carbonium ion followed by abstraction of a proton from the C3 carbon would yield both isomers of 2-butene. The estimated faradaic efficiencies show that each electromigrated proton causes up to 28 molecules of butene to undergo isomerization. This catalytic step is for intermediate potentials much faster than the consumption of the proton by the electrochemical reduction of butene to butane. However, the reduction of butene to butane becomes significant at lower potentials, i.e., less than 0.1V, with a concomitant inhibition of the isomerization process, as manifest in Fig. 9.31 by the appearance of the maxima of the cis- and tram-butene formation rates. 

If components of the solution phase are prone to electrochemical reactions (e.g. reduction of dissolved oxygen, reduction of oxidising anions) their presence may also cause Faradaic reactions and the subsequent establishment of an electrode potential different from iipzc. 

The reaction products often compromise a mixture of various substances. Moreover, the reduction of carbon dioxide in aqueous solutions in the cathodic potential region is always accompanied by hydrogen evolution. Hence, an important criterion that describes the reaction selectivity is the faradaic yield ri for each individual Mh organic reaction product. 

Of great interest and importance are studies on carbon dioxide reduction on copper electrodes, performed primarily by Japanese scientists. Under certain conditions, formation of methane and ethylene with high faradaic yields (up to 90%) was observed. The efficiency and selectivity of this reaction depends very much on the purity and the state of the surface of the copper electrode. For this reason, many of the published results are contradictory. 

Another type of supercapacitor has been developed in whieh instead of ideally polarizable electrodes, electrodes consisting of disperse platinum metals are used at which thin oxide films are formed by anodic polarization. Film formation is a faradaic process which in certain cases, such as the further partial oxidation and reduction of these layers, occurs under conditions close to reversibility. 

Similarly, the m/z = 60 ion current signal was converted into the partial current for methanol oxidation to formic acid in a four-electron reaction (dash-dotted line in Fig. 13.3c for calibration, see Section 13.2). The resulting partial current of methanol oxidation to formic acid does not exceed about 10% of the methanol oxidation current. Obviously, the sum of both partial currents of methanol oxidation to CO2 and formic acid also does not reach the measured faradaic current. Their difference is plotted in Fig. 13.3c as a dotted line, after the PtO formation/reduction currents and pseudoca-pacitive contributions, as evident in the base CV of a Pt/Vulcan electrode (dotted line in Fig. 13.1a), were subtracted as well. Apparently, a signihcant fraction of the faradaic current is used for the formation of another methanol oxidation product, other than CO2 and formic acid. Since formaldehyde formation has been shown in methanol oxidation at ambient temperatures as well, parallel to CO2 and formic acid formation [Ota et al., 1984 Iwasita and Vielstich, 1986 Korzeniewski and ChUders, 1998 ChUders et al., 1999], we attribute this current difference to the partial current of methanol oxidation to formaldehyde. (Note that direct detection of formaldehyde by DBMS is not possible under these conditions, owing to its low volatility and interference with methanol-related mass peaks, as discussed previously [Jusys et al., 2003]). Assuming that formaldehyde is the only other methanol oxidation product in addition to CO2 and formic acid, we can quantitatively determine the partial currents of all three major products during methanol oxidation, which are otherwise not accessible. Similarly, subtraction of the partial current for formaldehyde oxidation to CO2 from the measured faradaic current for formaldehyde oxidation yields an additional current, which corresponds to the partial oxidation of formaldehyde to formic acid. The characteristics of the different Ci oxidation reactions are presented in more detail in the following sections. 

Electrochemical redox studies of electroactive species solubilized in the water core of reverse microemulsions of water, toluene, cosurfactant, and AOT [28,29] have illustrated a percolation phenomenon in faradaic electron transfer. This phenomenon was observed when the cosurfactant used was acrylamide or other primary amide [28,30]. The oxidation or reduction chemistry appeared to switch on when cosurfactant chemical potential was raised above a certain threshold value. This switching phenomenon was later confirmed to coincide with percolation in electrical conductivity [31], as suggested by earlier work from the group of Francoise Candau [32]. The explanations for this amide-cosurfactant-induced percolation center around increases in interfacial flexibility [32] and increased disorder in surfactant chain packing [33]. These increases in flexibility and disorder appear to lead to increased interdroplet attraction, coalescence, and cluster formation. 

Analytical methods based upon oxidation/reduction reactions include oxidation/reduction titrimetry, potentiometry, coulometry, electrogravimetry and voltammetry. Faradaic oxidation/reduction equilibria are conveniently studied by measuring the potentials of electrochemical cells in which the two half-reactions making up the equilibrium are participants. Electrochemical cells, which are galvanic or electrolytic, reversible or irreversible, consist of two conductors called electrodes, each of which is immersed in an electrolyte solution. In most of the cells, the two electrodes are different and must be separated (by a salt bridge) to avoid direct reaction between the reactants. 

Residual current in polarography. In the pragmatic treatment of the theory of electrolysis (Section 3.1) we have explained the occurrence of a residual current on the basis of back-diffusion of the electrolysis product obtained. In conventional polarography the wave shows clearly the phenomenon of a residual current by a slow rise of the curve before the decomposition potential as well as beyond the potential where the limiting current has been reached. In order to establish the value one generally corrects the total current measured for the current of the blank solution in the manner illustrated in Fig. 3.16 (vertical distance between the two parallel lines CD and AB). However, this is an unreliable procedure especially in polarography because, apart from the troublesome saw-tooth character of the i versus E curve, the residual current exists not only with a faradaic part, which is caused by reduction (or oxidation)... 

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