Surface-electrolyte interface

The irreversible capacity results from formation of a surface-electrolyte interface (SEI) layer, and is believed to be caused by decomposition of the electrolyte on the surface of active material during few first charge cycles [3-5]. The values of irreversible capacity and the SEI are functions of the type of active material and the electrolyte. Also, the safety issue, which is believed to be associated with stability of SEI, has been identified as a major parameter in the equation [6-7]. The contribution of the negative electrode to the thermal runaway is believed to be related to the nature and also to the surface area of the active material [8-9]. 

It should be remembered that STM data refer to a small segment of the surface whereas electrochemical data describe the properties of the integral surface/electrolyte interface. Hence, for a precise comparison of data obtained with both methods, the surface should be scanned by STM at many places and the results averaged. 

Given the nature of the polymer and the conduction pathway, a simple homogeneous model cannot be applied to thin conducting polymer film-electrolyte systems [27,28,31]. For thin films (< lOOnm) with pore sizes estimated to range from 1 to 4 nm, the porous surface-electrolyte interface will dominate the electrical and physical properties of the sensor. Since the oxidation of the porous surface occurs first, the interface properties play a major role in determining device response. To make use of this information for the immunosensor response, the appropriate measurement frequency must be chosen to discriminate between bulk and interface phenomena. To determine the optimum frequency to probe the interface, the admittance spectra of the conducting polymer films in the frequency range of interest are required. 

The influence of membrane effective fixed charge, Xf, on the transport of ions is estimated by determining the ion / transport number or fraction of the total electric current transported by ion i (TO, that is f = Ij/Ix since Zi h = 1, for single salts L + t. = 1. However, electrical characterization of membrane-surface/electrolyte interface is usually carried out by TSP measurements (A( ) gt), which allows the determination of zeta potential (Q, the electrical potential at the shear plane, by using the Helmholtz-Smoluchowski equation [33] ... 

On the other hand, 0.1 M trimethyl borate results in 53% capacity. The trimethyl borate performance improves with increasing concentration. Trimethyl borate also suppresses the thermal decomposition of the electrolyte and the formation of the surface/electrolyte interface film (58). 

ADSORPTION EQUILIBRIA AT THE ELECTRIFIED SURFACE-ELECTROLYTE INTERFACE... 

IHP) (the Helmholtz condenser formula is used in connection with it), located at the surface of the layer of Stem adsorbed ions, and an outer Helmholtz plane (OHP), located on the plane of centers of the next layer of ions marking the beginning of the diffuse layer. These planes, marked IHP and OHP in Fig. V-3 are merely planes of average electrical property the actual local potentials, if they could be measured, must vary wildly between locations where there is an adsorbed ion and places where only water resides on the surface. For liquid surfaces, discussed in Section V-7C, the interface will not be smooth due to thermal waves (Section IV-3). Sweeney and co-workers applied gradient theory (see Chapter III) to model the electric double layer and interfacial tension of a hydrocarbon-aqueous electrolyte interface [27]. 

The equations of electrocapillarity become complicated in the case of the solid metal-electrolyte interface. The problem is that the work spent in a differential stretching of the interface is not equal to that in forming an infinitesimal amount of new surface, if the surface is under elastic strain. Couchman and co-workers [142, 143] and Mobliner and Beck [144] have, among others, discussed the thermodynamics of the situation, including some of the problems of terminology. 

Fischer P R, Daschbach J L and Richmond G L 1994 Surface second harmonic studies of Si(111 )/electroltye and Si(111 )/Si02/electrolyte interfaces Chem. Phys. Lett. 218 200-5... 

The presented examples clearly demonstrate tliat a combination of several different teclmiques is urgently recommended for a complete characterization of tire chemical composition and tire atomic stmcture of electrode surfaces and a reliable interiDretation of tire related results. Stmcture sensitive metliods should be combined witli spectroscopic and electrochemical teclmiques. Besides in situ techniques such as SXS, XAS and STM or AFM, ex situ vacuum teclmiques have proven tlieir significance for tlie investigation of tlie electrode/electrolyte interface. 

Kolb D M and Franke C 1982 Surface states at the metal-electrolyte interface Appl. Phys A 49 379-87... 

Polarization can be divided into activation polarization and concentration polarization , Activation polarization is an electrochemical reaction that is controlled by the reaction occurring on the metal-electrolyte interface. Figure 4-418 illustrates the concept of activation polarization where hydrogen is being reduced over a zinc surface. Hydrogen ions are adsorbed on the metal surface they pick up electrons from the metal and are reduced to atoms. The atoms combine to... 

It is now well established that in lithium batteries (including lithium-ion batteries) containing either liquid or polymer electrolytes, the anode is always covered by a passivating layer called the SEI. However, the chemical and electrochemical formation reactions and properties of this layer are as yet not well understood. In this section we discuss the electrode surface and SEI characterizations, film formation reactions (chemical and electrochemical), and other phenomena taking place at the lithium or lithium-alloy anode, and at the Li. C6 anode/electrolyte interface in both liquid and polymer-electrolyte batteries. We focus on the lithium anode but the theoretical considerations are common to all alkali-metal anodes. We address also the initial electrochemical formation steps of the SEI, the role of the solvated-electron rate constant in the selection of SEI-building materials (precursors), and the correlation between SEI properties and battery quality and performance. 

Since this is a new field, little has been published on the LiXC6 /electrolyte interface. However, there is much similarity between the SEIs on lithium and on LixC6 electrodes. The mechanism of formation of the passivation film at the interface between lithiated carbon and a liquid or polymer electrolyte was studied by AC impedance [128, 142]. Two semicircles observed in AC-impedance spectra of LiAsF6/EC-2Me-THF electrolytes at 0.8 V vs. Li/Li+ [142] were attributed to the formation of a surface film during the first charge cycle. However, in the cases of LiC104 or LiBF4 /EC-PC-DME (di-... 

For pc-Au/electrolyte interfaces, Clavilier and Nguyen Van Huong256 also concluded that the crystallographic inhomogeneity factor depends on ce. Later, the influence of the crystallographic inhomogeneity of pc and monocrystalline electrodes (with various surface defects) was discussed in many papers.75,152,154 156 247-259 It has been shown that the potential of the diffuse-layer capacitance minimum for a polycrystalline electrode does not correspond to Ea=Q of the whole surface, i.e., 2J 0,< 0 at E n. 

Adsorption of various organic compounds (e.g., cyclohexanol, adamantanol-1, and camphor) has been studied at a renewed Sn + Pb alloy/electrolyte interface.820-824 The time variation of the surface composition depends on the solution composition, the nature and concentration of the surface-active substance, and on E. The " of cyclohexanol for just-renewed Sn + Pb alloys shifts toward more negative E with time, i.e., as the amount of Pb at the Sn + Pb alloy surface increases. 

This potential depends on the interfacial tension am of a passivated metal/electrolyte interface shifting to the lower potential side with decreasing am. The lowest film breakdown potential AEj depends on the surface tension of the breakdown site at which the film-free metal surface comes into contact with the electrolyte. A decrease in the surface tension from am = 0.41 J m"2 to nonmetallic inclusions on the metal surface, will cause a shift of the lowest breakdown potential by about 0.3 V in the less noble direction. 

Figure 16. Activation barrier A for the formation of a breakthrough pore in a thin surface oxide film on metal as a function of electrode potential at two different surface tensions, om, of the metal/electrolyte interface.7The solid lines indicate the values of A b against Aand the dotted lines correspond to die critical potentials for the pore formation. ACd= 1 F m-2, a = 0.01 J m-2, h = 2 x 10-9 m, a, am = 0.41 J m 2 b, am 0.21 J m 2 (From N. Sato, J. Electmchem. Soc. 129, 255, 1982, Fig. 3. Reproduced by permission of The Electrochemical Society, Inc.)...

By tradition, electrochemistry has been considered a branch of physical chemistry devoted to macroscopic models and theories. We measure macroscopic currents, electrodic potentials, consumed charges, conductivities, admittance, etc. All of these take place on a macroscopic scale and are the result of multiple molecular, atomic, or ionic events taking place at the electrode/electrolyte interface. Great efforts are being made by electrochemists to show that in a century where the most brilliant star of physical chemistry has been quantum chemistry, electrodes can be studied at an atomic level and elemental electron transfers measured.1 The problem is that elemental electrochemical steps and their kinetics and structural consequences cannot be extrapolated to macroscopic and industrial events without including the structure of the surface electrode. 

Figure 12. Energy diagram of a semiconductor/electrolyte interface showing photogeneration and loss mechanisms (via surface recombination and interfacial charge transfer for minority charge carriers). The surface concentration of minority...

Electrochemical impedance spectroscopy leads to information on surface states and representative circuits of electrode/electrolyte interfaces. Here, the measurement technique involves potential modulation and the detection of phase shifts with respect to the generated current. The driving force in a microwave measurement is the microwave power, which is proportional to E2 (E = electrical microwave field). Therefore, for a microwave impedance measurement, the microwave power P has to be modulated to observe a phase shift with respect to the flux, the transmitted or reflected microwave power APIP. Phase-sensitive microwave conductivity (impedance) measurements, again provided that a reliable theory is available for combining them with an electrochemical impedance measurement, should lead to information on the kinetics of surface states and defects and the polarizability of surface states, and may lead to more reliable information on real representative circuits of electrodes. We suspect that representative electrical circuits for electrode/electrolyte interfaces may become directly determinable by combining phase-sensitive electrical and microwave conductivity measurements. However, up to now, in this early stage of development of microwave electrochemistry, only comparatively simple measurements can be evaluated. 

Jaegermann, W. The Semiconductor/Electrolyte Interface A Surface Science Approach 30... 

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