Open circuit electrode corrosion current density

If one of the partial electrode reactions is the dissolution of the electrode (i.e. metal, semiconductor, etc.), the open circuit potential is a corrosion potential and the system undergoes corrosion at a rate given by the corrosion current density (/corr), which is a measure of the corrosion rate of the system. The magnitude of corr of corroding systems... 

Corrosion — Corrosion current density — Figure. Polarization curves of a metal/metal ion electrode and the H2/H+ electrode including the anodic and cathodic partial current curves, the Nernst equilibrium electrode potentials E(Me/Mez+) and (H2/H+), their exchange current densities / o,M> o,redox and related overpotentials Me) and 77(H), the rest potential r, the polarization n and the corrosion current density ic at open circuit conditions (E = Er) [i]... 

Electrochemical potentlostat measurements have been performed for the corrosion of iron, carbon steel, and stainless steel alloys in supercritical water. The open circuit potential, the exchange or corrosion current density, and the transfer coefficients were determined for pressures and temperatures from ambient to supercritical water conditions. Corrosion current densities increased exponentially with temperature up to the critical point and then decreased with temperature above the critical point. A semi-empirical model is proposed for describing this phenomenon. Although the current density of iron exceeded that of 304 stainless steel by a factor of three at ambient conditions, the two were comparable at supercritical water conditions. The transfer coefficients did not vary with temperature and pressure while the open circuit potential relative to a silver-silver chloride electrode exhibited complicated behavior. 

Under open-circuit conditions (i.e., when the metal surface is not connected to an external potentiostat), the net current ia - ic will be zero, and the electrode potential E will adjust according to the corrosion potential, con- In this case, the corrosion current density (i.e., the current density associated with the loss of metal) is 4 = ic = icon-... 

For open circuit conditions, the net current is zero and the mixed electrode is at the corrosion or rest potential Er. The corrosion current density is ... 

In the case of codeposition of Co and Mo on Au and Fe electrodes, very strong synergistic effects of coplating of these two elements were found (168), with Tafel slopes of around 60 mV in the low current-density range being observed. With Ni and Mo coplating on Ni or Fe, slopes of 23-28 mV are observed (75). The Co plus Mo electrodeposits remain cathodically protected during the Hj evolution but on open circuit evolve H2 rapidly-from active Mo centers, as in decomposition of Raney nickels. However, this may be due as much to desorption of codeposited H as to evolution of H2 by corrosion of the base metal. Mo. 

The constant term depends on the environmental conditions such as temperature, pH, concentration of oxygen and the reference electrode offset. But the differential method without the term has advantages on them, in case that the same reference electrodes are used in the short-time measurement. This formulation easily eliminates the effect of open circuit corrosion potential and reference electrode offset. If the potential or current density are constant in two boundary conditions, the differential boundary conditions are zero according to Eqn. (12) or Eqn. (13). 

For instance, in an opencurrent density is not strictly zero at any point in the electrolyte. Even if the overall current is zero, the electrol e and the electrodes are not necessarily equipotential and therefore the ohmic drop terms may not necessarily be zero in open-circuit conditions. 

According to mixed-potential theory, any overall electrochemical reaction can be algebraically divided into half-cell oxidation and reduction reactions, and there can be no net electrical charge accumulation [J7], For open-circuit corrosion in the absence of an applied potential, the oxidation of the metal and the reduction of some species in solution occur simultaneously at the metal/electrolyte interface, as described by Eq 14, Under these circumstances, the net measurable current density, t pp, is zero. However, a finite rate of corrosion defined by t con. occurs at anodic sites on the metal surface, as indicated in Fig. 1. When the corrosion potential, Eco ., is located at a potential that is distincdy different from the reversible electrode potentials (E dox) of either the corroding metal or the species in solution that is cathodically reduced, the oxidation of cathodic reactants or the reduction of any metallic ions in solution becomes negligible. Because the magnitude of at E is the quantity of interest in the corroding system, this parameter must be determined independendy of the oxidation reaction rates of other adsorbed or dissolved reactants. 

Rates of corrosion can also be measured using an electrochemical technique known as potentiodynamic polarization. The potential of the test metal electrode relative to a reference electrode (commonly the saturated calomel electrode SCE) is varied at a controlled rate using a potentiostat. The resultant current density which flows in the cell via an auxiliary electrode, typically platinum, is recorded as a function of potential. The schematic curve in fig. 2 is typical of data obtained from such a test. These data can provide various parameters in addition to corrosion rate, all of which are suitable for describing corrosion resistance. The corrosion potential F corr is nominally the open circuit or rest potential of the metal in solution. At this potential, the anodic and cathodic processes occurring on the surface are in equilibrium. When the sample is polarized to potentials more positive than Scon the anodic processes, such as metal dissolution, dominate (Anodic Polarization Curve). With polarization to potentials more negative than Scorr the cathodic processes involved in the corrosion reaction such as oxygen reduction and hydrogen evolution dominate (Cathodic Polarization Curve). These separate halves of the total polarization curve may provide information about the rates of anodic and cathodic processes. The current density at any particular potential is a measure of the... 

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