Generalized Electrode Kinetics

As is well known in the field of electrochemistry in general, electrode kinetics may be conveniently examined by cyclic voltammetry (CV) and by frequency response analysis (ac impedance). The kinetics of the various polymer electrodes considered so far in this chapter will be discussed in terms of results obtained by these two experimental techniques. 

Figure 3 shows (X ) (X = I, Br) as a function of the concentration of electrolytes for two different disk currents. According to this figure, a large (X ) was obtained for a high concentration of KI, as easily expected from general electrode kinetics. However, it is noticed that the concentration dependence of (X ) is different even for the same kind of halide ions if the ig chosen is different. In order to investigate this point in detail, (X ) was obtained as a function of ig for different concentration of halide ions. 

Electrode kinetics lend themselves to treatment usiag the absolute reaction rate theory or the transition state theory (36,37). In these treatments, the path followed by the reaction proceeds by a route involving an activated complex where the element determining the reaction rate, ie, the rate limiting step, is the dissociation of the activated complex. The general electrode reaction may be described as ... 

In electrode kinetics a relationship is sought between the current density and the composition of the electrolyte, surface overpotential, and the electrode material. This microscopic description of the double layer indicates how stmcture and chemistry affect the rate of charge-transfer reactions. Generally in electrode kinetics the double layer is regarded as part of the interface, and a macroscopic relationship is sought. For the general reaction... 

Electrochemical kinetics is part of general chemical kinetics and has a similar purpose to determine the mechanism of the electrode process and quantitatively describe its time dependence. Mostly the study involves several stages. Firstly it is necessary to determine the reaction path, i.e. to determine the mechanism of the actual electrode reaction (for more detail, see Section 5.3.1), and the partial steps forming the overall electrode... 

Activation Polarization Activation polarization is present when the rate of an electrochemical reaction at an electrode surface is controlled by sluggish electrode kinetics. In other words, activation polarization is directly related to the rates of electrochemical reactions. There is a close similarity between electrochemical and chemical reactions in that both involve an activation barrier that must be overcome by the reacting species. In the case of an electrochemical reaction with riact> 50-100 mV, rjact is described by the general form of the Tafel equation (see Section 2.2.4) ... 

Although the diffusion of the counterion is faster in polypyrrole than in polyacetylene, its value is still low enough to influence the rate of the electrochemical charge and discharge processes of lithium/polymer batteries. Indeed the current output of these batteries is generally confined to a few mA cm . Possibly, improvements in the electrode kinetics, and thus in the battery rates, may be obtained by the replacement of standard ... 

In general, the electrochemical performance of carbon materials is basically determined by the electronic properties, and given its interfacial character, by the surface structure and surface chemistry (i.e. surface terminal functional groups or adsorption processes) [1,2]. Such features will affect the electrode kinetics, potential limits, background currents and the interaction with molecules in solution [2]. From the point of view of electroanalysis, the remarkable benefits of CNT-modified electrodes have been widely praised, including low detection limits, increased sensitivity, decreased overpotentials and resistance to surface fouling [5, 9, 11, 17]. 

The Butler-Volmer equation has yielded much that is essentia] to the first appreciation of electrode kinetics. It has not, however, been mined out. One has to dig deeper, and after electron transfer at one interface has been understood in a more general way, electrochemical systems or cells with two electrode/electrolyte interfaces must be tackled. It is the theoretical descriptions of these systems that provide the basis... 

One general method may always be used to reduce the effect of impurity adsorption on electrodes, and that is to work only for shorl times. Impurities take substantial times to adsorb. If the time in which the measurement is made is short enough, the adsorption aspect of impurity interference with electrode kinetic measurements can be reduced. Many of the techniques for doing this are described in Chapter 8 (transients). However, this approach does not eliminate the difficulty that at low current densities impurities in the solution may compete with electrons from the electrode. Further, although transient measurements may greatly reduce the adsorption of impurities during the measurement, it is difficult to arrange techniques so that the electrode is in contact with the solution for seconds only. 

The majority of fundamental measurements in electrode kinetics are made in one of the types of transients described below. It is meaningless to speak of a best transient method, because each electrochemical reaction has its own characteristics, and the large variation in the properties of the reactions concerned means there will be variety in the most appropriate transient method. Some general points follow here. All of them must be considered before picking the best technique to use. Further, it must be recalled that the biggest distinction between electrode reactions is in respect to those (few) that occur without adsorbed intermediates and... 

In electrode kinetic studies, reactant concentrations are, in general, in the millimolar range and double layer contributions for such low ionic concentrations may become very important. If excess of inert or supporting electrolyte is used, the relative variation in the ionic concentration at the double layer due to the electrochemical reaction is at a minimum at high concentration of an inert z z electrolyte, most of the interfacial potential drop corresponds to the Helmholtz inner layer and variations of A02 with electrode potential are small (Fig. 3). In addition, use of supporting electrolyte prevents the migration of electroactive ionic species from becoming important and also reduces the ohmic overpotential. 

Theoretical treatments for the analysis of complex electrode reactions in terms of elementary steps can be made, as in general chemical kinetics, by the steady state [3, 5, 7] or the quasi-equilibrium methods [4, 5, 47]. 

For an experimental system in which the initial concentration profiles are flat, the unperturbed current is zero and the electrode potential is constant. Any changes in current or potential are due to the new perturbation. This situation is only encountered when one controls the surface concentrations by adjusting the bulk concentrations of the members of the electrochemical couple. This method is employed in faradaic impedance studies of electrode kinetics (detailed below) but is not generally applicable (particularly for analytical purposes). 

In the previous edition of this book, Dryhurst and McAllister described carbon electrodes in common use at the time, with particular emphasis on fabrication and potential limits [1]. There have been two extensive reviews since the previous edition, one emphasizing electrode kinetics at carbon [2] and one on more general physical and electrochemical properties [3]. In addition to greater popularity of carbon as an electrode, the major developments since 1984 have been an improved understanding of surface properties and structure, and extensive efforts on chemical modification. In the context of electroanalytical applications, the current chapter stresses the relationship between surface structure and reproducibility, plus the variety of carbon materials and pretreatments. Since the intent of the chapter is to guide the reader in using commonly available materials and procedures, many interesting but less common approaches from the literature are not addressed. A particularly active area that is not discussed is the wide variety of carbon electrodes with chemically modified surfaces. 

A mathematical description of an electrochemical system should take into account species fluxes, material conservation, current flow, electroneutrality, hydrodynamic conditions, and electrode kinetics. While rigorous equations governing the system can frequently be identified, the simultaneous solution of all the equations is not generally feasible. To obtain a solution to the governing equations, we must make a number of approximations. In the previous section we considered the mathematical description of electrode kinetics. In this section we shall assume that the system is mass-transport limited and that electrode kinetics can be ignored. 

Thus, Thonstad et al. [135,136] used the relaxation method with galvano-static perturbation and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy to study the kinetics of the A1(III)/A1 electrode reaction in cryolite-alumina melts and found that the exchange current densities were of the order of 5-15 A cm 2. The general electrode reaction scheme may be written... 

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