Specific adsorption potential

The idea in these papers67,223,224 was to identify the potential of the capacitance minimum in dilute electrolyte solutions with the actual value of Ea=o (i.e., <7ge0m( min) = Ofor the whole surface) and to obtain the value of R as the inverse slope of the Parsons-Zobel plot at min.72 Extrapolation of Cwom vs- to Cgg0m = 0 provides the inner-layer capacitance in the / C geom, and not C ea as assumed in several papers.67,68,223,224 In the absence of ion-specific adsorption and for ideally smooth surfaces, these plots are expected to be linear with unit slope. However, data for Hg and single-crystal face electrodes have shown that the test is somewhat more complicated.63,74,219,247-249 More specifically,247,248 PZ plots for Hg/... 

The Hg/V-methylformamide (NMF) interface has been studied by the capacitance method as a function of temperature.108,294,303 The potential of Hg was measured with respect to the reference electrode Ag/0.05 M AgC104 + 0.05 M NaC104 in water. The specific adsorption of C104 was found to be negligible at a < 6 /iC cm"2. The experimental capacitance data have been discussed in terms of the four-state model,121,291,294 which assumes the presence of both monomers and clusters in the surface layer of the solvent. The model has been found to describe the experimental picture qualitatively but not quantitatively. This is related to the fact that NMF is a strongly associated solvent.108,109,294,303... 

The Hg/dimethyl formamide (DMF) interface has been studied by capacitance measurements10,120,294,301,310 in the presence of various tetraalkylammonium and alkali metal perchlorates in the range of temperatures -15 to 40°C. The specific adsorption of (C2H5)4NC104 was found to be negligible.108,109 The properties of the inner layer were analyzed on the basis of a three-state model. The temperature coefficient of the inner-layer potential drop has been found to be negative at Easo, with a minimum at -5.5 fiC cm-2. Thus the entropy of formation of the interface has a maximum at this charge. These data cannot be described... 

A diffuse-layer minimum in C,E curves has not been found with electrodes kept 3 min at E = -0.74 V, i.e., at a potential close to the rest potential of Fe.728 Complete cathodic reduction at <<-0.74 V (SCE) is not achieved since a diffuse-layer minimum is not found for cathodically reduced electrodes. This effect has been explained by the oxidation of Fe. According to impedance data, strong specific adsorption of Cl anions at renewed Fe electrodes occurs since a very large shift of Eosq takes place going from KF to KC1 solutions. 

The potentials of zero charge considered in this chapter are those in the absence of specific adsorption of ionic as well as nonionic species. There has been no attempt to review the enormous amount of data on the effect of specific adsorption on Ea+j, except for the few cases where extrapolation back to zero specific adsorption has been used as a more accurate way to determine <7-o- However, specific adsorption is difficult to relate quantitatively to the structure of interfacial water as well as to the effect of the metal. 

The effect of surface deformation in the Helmholtz layer should also be involved in Eq. (35). In consideration of specific adsorption of anions, such effects can be expressed by the potential gradient Lj y, z, as follows,... 

Hence, in Eq. (36), which sign, positive or negative, should be chosen depends on the adsorption state of ionic species in the Helmholtz layer if any kind of specific adsorption is neglected or such adsorption is not so intense, the positive sign can be adopted because there is no inversion of the signs of the electric potentials, as depicted in Fig. 23. This means that the sign of the potential difference in the Helmholtz layer is the same as that of the potential difference in the diffuse layer, i.e.,... 

As shown in Fig. 24, the mechanism of the instability is elucidated as follows At the portion where dissolution is accidentally accelerated and is accompanied by an increase in the concentration of dissolved metal ions, pit formation proceeds. If the specific adsorption is strong, the electric potential at the OHP of the recessed part decreases. Because of the local equilibrium of reaction, the fluctuation of the electrochemical potential must be kept at zero. As a result, the concentration component of the fluctuation must increase to compensate for the decrease in the potential component. This means that local dissolution is promoted more at the recessed portion. Thus these processes form a kind of positive feedback cycle. After several cycles, pits develop on the surface macroscopically through initial fluctuations. 

A further effect which has been known for many years is that of anions, which are specifically adsorbed at high anodic potentials on platinum, on the products of the oxidation of carboxylate ions. For example, carbonium ion-derived products can be obtained in the presence of such specific adsorption and this demands a complete change in reaction route (Fioshin and Avrutskaya, 1967 Glasstone and Hickling, 1934). 

A correlation between the amount of adsorbed ions and the electrode potential, in particular E. , has been identified apparently for the first time by Frumkin and Obrutschewa [26Fru]. A minimum of ionic adsorption was found at E, this is equivalent to the absence of specific adsorption at Ep c- The measurement of the amount of adsorbed ions was performed by measuring the ionic concentration in the solution as a function of the electrode potential or by measuring the surface concentration of adsorbed ions by e.g. radiotracer techniques (see also 4.2). (Data obtained with this method are labelled lA). 

It was concluded from this and related works that suppression of the photodissolution of n-CdX anodes in aqueous systems by ions results primarily from specific adsorption of X at the electrode surface and concomitant shielding of the lattice ions from the solvent molecules, rather than from rapid annihilation of photogenerated holes. The prominent role of adsorbed species could be illustrated, by invoking thermodynamics, in the dramatic shift in CdX dissolution potentials for electrolytes containing sulfide ions. The standard potentials of the relevant reactions for CdS and CdSe, as well as of the sulfide oxidation, are compared as follows (vs. SCE) [68] ... 

In principle, the oxidation of proceeds at an electrode potential that is more negative by about 0.7 V than the anodic decomposition paths in the above cases however, because of the adsorption shift, it is readily seen that practically there is no energetic advantage compared to CdX dissolution in competing for photogenerated holes. Similar effects are observed with Se and Te electrolytes. As a consequence of specific adsorption and the fact that the X /X couples involve a two-electron transfer, the overall redox process (adsorption/electron trans-fer/desorption) is also slow, which limits the degree of stabilization that can be attained in such systems. In addition, the type of interaction of the X ions with the electrode surface which produces the shifts in the decomposition potentials also favors anion substitution in the lattice and the concomitant degradation of the photoresponse. 

Added stability in PEC can be attained through the use of non-aqueous solvents. Noufi et al. [68] systematically evaluated various non-aqueous ferro-ferricyanide electrolytes (DMF, acetonitrile, PC, alcohols) for use in stabilizing n-CdSe photoanodes. Selection of the solvent was discussed in terms of inherent stability provided, the rate of the redox reaction, the tendency toward specific adsorption of the redox species, and the formal potential of the redox couple with respect to the flat band potential (attainable open-circuit voltage). On the basis of these data, the methanol/Fe(CN)6 system (transparent below 2.6 eV) was chosen as providing complete stabilization of CdSe. Results were presented for cells of the type... 

In principle, the distribution of ions and dipoles at the M/s interface is different from that at the free M and s surfaces. Therefore the Galvani potential may also be written, in the absence of specific adsorption, as the sum of the charge and dipole components ... 

It will be assumed that the interactions between each of metals (1) and (2) and the corresponding surface layers of the electrolyte solution are approximately identical, and also that specific adsorption of ions does not occur in the system being considered. In this case the values of the expressions in the last two sets of brackets in Eq. (9.10) become zero, and from (9.10) and (9.11) an important relation is obtained which links the OCV of galvanic cells with the Volta potential ... 

Two types of EDL are distinguished superficial and interfacial. Superficial EDLs are located wholly within the surface layer of a single phase (e.g., an EDL caused by a nonuniform distribution of electrons in the metal, an EDL caused by orientation of the bipolar solvent molecules in the electrolyte solution, an EDL caused by specific adsorption of ions). Tfie potential drops developing in tfiese cases (the potential inside the phase relative to a point just outside) is called the surface potential of the given phase k. Interfacial EDLs have their two parts in dilferent phases the inner layer with the charge density in the metal (because of an excess or deficit of electrons in the surface layer), and the outer layer of counterions with the charge density = -Qs m in the solution (an excess of cations or anions) the potential drop caused by this double layer is called the interfacial potential... 

Reactant concentrations Cyj in the bulk solution, as well as the Galvani potential between the electrode and the bulk solution (which is a constituent term in electrode potential E), appear in kinetic equations such as (6.8). However, the reacting particles are not those in the bulk solution but those close to the electrode surface, near the outer Helmholtz plane when there is no specific adsorption, and near the inner Helmholtz plane when there is specific adsorption. Both the particle concentrations and the potential differ between these regions and the bulk solution. It was first pointed out by Afexander N. Frumkin in 1933 that for this reason, the kinetics of electrochemical reactions should strongly depend on EDL structure at the electrode surface. 

We have also discussed two applications of the extended ab initio atomistic thermodynamics approach. The first example is the potential-induced lifting of Au(lOO) surface reconstmction, where we have focused on the electronic effects arising from the potential-dependent surface excess charge. We have found that these are already sufficient to cause lifting of the Au(lOO) surface reconstruction, but contributions from specific electrolyte ion adsorption might also play a role. With the second example, the electro-oxidation of a platinum electrode, we have discussed a system where specific adsorption on the surface changes the surface structure and composition as the electrode potential is varied. 

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