Potentiostats applications

Methods to measure the transport number of electronic carriers using the C. Wagner asymmetric cell were reviewed. Transient measurements involving the potentiostatic application of El E2 were shown to yield three contributions to the observed... 

Anodic Protection This electrochemical method relies on an external potential control system (potentiostat) to maintain the metal or alloy in a noncorroding (passive) condition. Practical applications include acid coolers in sulfuric acid plants and storage tanks for sulfuric acid. 

Over the years the original Evans diagrams have been modified by various workers who have replaced the linear E-I curves by curves that provide a more fundamental representation of the electrode kinetics of the anodic and cathodic processes constituting a corrosion reaction (see Fig. 1.26). This has been possible partly by the application of electrochemical theory and partly by the development of newer experimental techniques. Thus the cathodic curve is plotted so that it shows whether activation-controlled charge transfer (equation 1.70) or mass transfer (equation 1.74) is rate determining. In addition, the potentiostat (see Section 20.2) has provided... 

Both the galvanostatic and potentiostatic method have their own particular spheres of application, and it is not always advantageous to reject the former in favour of the latter, although there is an increasing tendency to do so. Nevertheless, the potentiostatic method does have a distinct advantage in studies of passivity, since it is capable of defining more precisely the potential and current density at which the transition from the active (charge transfer controlled M to the passive state takes place this is fax... 

The critical information required from testing may include one or all of the following tendency to passivation, anode operating potential and capacity. The tests, whilst all capable of producing information on the above, tend to be particularly suited to certain applications. For example potentiostatic testing is useful for evaluating passivation tendencies but not generally appropriate to anode capacity determination. 

The potentiostatic technique has a number of variations and the potential may be increased or decreased incrementally, changed continuously at a predetermined rate (potential sweep) or applied as pulses of very short duration. The applications of the potentiostatic technique are considered in detail in Sections 1.4, 1.5 and 19.2, and will not be considered here. 

A detailed and well-referenced account of electrochemical methods of testing has been written by Dean, France and Ketcham in a section of the book by Ailor. ASTM G5 1987 outlines standard methods for making potentiostatic and potentiodynamic anodic polarisation measurements and ASTM G3 1974 (R1981) gives conventions applicable to electrochemical measurements in corrosion testing. 

The determination of polarisation curves of metals by means of constant potential devices has contributed greatly to the knowledge of corrosion processes and passivity. In addition to the use of the potentiostat in studying a variety of mechanisms involved in corrosion and passivity, it has been applied to alloy development, since it is an important tool in the accelerated testing of corrosion resistance. Dissolution under controlled potentials can also be a precise method for metallographic etching or in studies of the selective corrosion of various phases. The technique can be used for establishing optimum conditions of anodic and cathodic protection. Two of the more recent papers have touched on limitations in its application and differences between potentiostatic tests and exposure to chemical solutions. ... 

Fig. 19.36 Basic circuit for a poiemiostat. (a) Basic circuit for a potentiostat and electrochemical cell, (b) Equivalent circuit, (c) Circuit of a basic potentiostat. A.E. is the auxiliary electrode, R.E. the reference electrode and W.E. the working electrode (6 and c are from Polen-tiostat and its Applications by J. A. von Fraunhofer and C. H. Banks, Butlerworths (1972))...

The use of the potentiostatic method has helped to show that the process of self-passivation is practically identical to that which occurs when the metal is made anodically passive by the application of an external current" . The polarisation curve usually observed is shown schematically in Fig. 19.37a. Without the use of a potentiostat, the active portion of the curve AB would make a sudden transition to the curve DE, e.g. along curve AFE or AFD, and observation of the part of the curve BCDE during anodic polarisation was not common until the potentiostat was used. 

Pressurised water nuclear reactors require metals that will have a high degree of corrosion resistance to pure water at around 300°C. Laboratory testing of materials for this application have included potentiostatic polarisation experiments designed to clarify the active-passive behaviour of alloys as well as to establish corrosion rates. Since pressure vessels are used for this work, it is necessary to provide sealed insulated leads through the autoclave head . 

Potentiodynamic polarisation The characteristics of passive/active conditions for metals can be readily defined using this technique ". Details for laboratory application can be found in ASTM Standard G5 (latest revision). Application in plant is easily performed as portable equipment (potentiostat) is available from several manufacturers, with some models incorporating built-in computer facilities. 

Figure 2.3. Catalysis (0), classical promotion ( ), electrochemical promotion ( , ) and electrochemical promotion of a classically promoted (sodium doped) ( , ) Rh catalyst deposited on YSZ during NO reduction by CO in presence of gaseous 02.14 The Figure shows the temperature dependence of the catalytic rates and turnover frequencies of C02 (a) and N2 (b) formation under open-circuit (o.c.) conditions and upon application (via a potentiostat) of catalyst potential values, UWr, of+1 and -IV. Reprinted with permission from Elsevier Science.

The same experimental procedure used in Fig. 4.15 is followed here. The Pt surface is initially (t < - 1 min) cleaned from Na via application of a positive potential (Uwr=0.2 V) using the reverse of reaction (4.23). The potentiostat is then disconnected (1=0, t=-lmin) andUWR relaxes to 0 V, i.e. to the value imposed by the gaseous composition and corresponding surface coverages of NO and H. Similar to the steady-state results depicted in Fig. 4.18 this decrease in catalyst potential from 0.2 to 0 V causes a sixfold enhancement in the rate, rN2, of N2 production and a 50% increase in the rate of N20 production. Then at t=0 the galvanostat is used to impose a constant current I=-20 pA Na+ is now pumped to the Pt catalyst surface at a... 

Figure 9.1. Rate and catalyst potential response to application of a negative current (Na supply to the catalyst) during C2H4 oxidation on Pt/p"-Al203, followed by potentiostatic restoration of the initial state1 T=291°C, pO2=5.0 kPa, pC2H4=2.1xlO 2 kPa. Reprinted with permission from Academic Press.

Coulometry. Even in water, controlled potential or potentiostatic coulometry is a difficult and often time-consuming technique, as the analyte must participate in a direct electrode reaction. Therefore, in non-aqueous media there are only a few examples of its application, e.g., the potentiostatic coulometry of nitro and halogen compounds in methanol (99%) with graphical end-point prediction, as described by Ehlers and Sease153. 

Potentiostatic current sources, which allow application of a controlled overpotential to the working electrode, are used widely by electrochemists in surface kinetic studies and find increasing use in limiting-current measurements. A decrease in the reactant concentration at the electrode is directly related to the concentration overpotential, rj0 (Eq. 6), which, in principle, can be established directly by means of a potentiostat. However, the controlled overpotential is made up of several contributions, as indicated in Section III,C, and hence, the concentration overpotential is by no means defined when a given overpotential is applied its fraction of the total overpotential varies with the current in a complicated way. Only if the surface overpotential and ohmic potential drop are known to be negligible at the limiting current density can one assume that the reactant concentration at the electrode is controlled by the applied potential according to Eq. (6). 

In a number of works, a potentiostatic regime has been used for the experimental and theoretical study of the anodization of aluminum and other valve metals.80 Upon the application of a constant potential step, Va, barrier-forming electrolytes are characterized by a sharp increase in the anodic current to a certain maximum. Both the slope and the maximum are determined by the impedance of the cell circuit. Subsequently, there is a continuous decrease in the anodic current, which is due to oxide growth. The decay of the anodic current can be described by the expression81... 

In practical application, it was reported that the platinum particles dispersed in highly porous carbonized polyacrylonitrile (PAN) microcellular foam used as fuel-cell electrocatalyst160 have the partially active property. The fractal dimension of the platinum particles was determined to be smaller than 2.0 by using the potentiostatic current transient technique in oxygen-saturated solutions, and it was considered to be a reaction dimension, indicating that not all of the platinum particle surface sites are accessible to the incoming oxygen molecules. 

In this paper we report the application of bimetallic catalysts which were prepared by consecutive reduction of a submonolayer of bismuth promoter onto the surface of platinum. The technique of modifying metal surfaces at controlled electrode potential with a monolayer or sub-monolayer of foreign metal ("underpotential" deposition) is widely used in electrocatalysis (77,72). Here we apply the theory of underpotential metal deposition without the use of a potentiostat. The catalyst potential during promotion was controlled by proper selection of the reducing agent (hydrogen), pH and metal ion concentration. 

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