Tafel slopes

Hi) Surface blockers. Type 1 tlie inliibiting molecules set up a geometrical barrier on tlie surface (mostly by adsorjDtion) such as a variety of ionic organic molecules. The effectiveness is directly related to tlie surface coverage. The effect is a lowering of tlie anodic part of tlie polarization curve witliout changing tlie Tafel slope. 

Type 2 tlie inliibiting species takes part in tlie redox reaction, i.e. it is able to react at eitlier catliodic or anodic surface sites to electroplate, precipitate or electropolymerize. Depending on its activation potential, tlie inliibitor affects tlie polarization curve by lowering tlie anodic or catliodic Tafel slope. 

Tafel equation Tafel kinetics Tafel slope Taffy process Taft s SV function Tagamet [51481-61-9] d-Tagatose... 

The two dashed lines in the upper left hand corner of the Evans diagram represent the electrochemical potential vs electrochemical reaction rate (expressed as current density) for the oxidation and the reduction form of the hydrogen reaction. At point A the two are equal, ie, at equiUbrium, and the potential is therefore the equiUbrium potential, for the specific conditions involved. Note that the reaction kinetics are linear on these axes. The change in potential for each decade of log current density is referred to as the Tafel slope (12). Electrochemical reactions often exhibit this behavior and a common Tafel slope for the analysis of corrosion problems is 100 millivolts per decade of log current (1). A more detailed treatment of Tafel slopes can be found elsewhere (4,13,14). 

The sohd line in Figure 3 represents the potential vs the measured (or the appHed) current density. Measured or appHed current is the current actually measured in an external circuit ie, the amount of external current that must be appHed to the electrode in order to move the potential to each desired point. The corrosion potential and corrosion current density can also be deterrnined from the potential vs measured current behavior, which is referred to as polarization curve rather than an Evans diagram, by extrapolation of either or both the anodic or cathodic portion of the curve. This latter procedure does not require specific knowledge of the equiHbrium potentials, exchange current densities, and Tafel slope values of the specific reactions involved. Thus Evans diagrams, constmcted from information contained in the Hterature, and polarization curves, generated by experimentation, can be used to predict and analyze uniform and other forms of corrosion. Further treatment of these subjects can be found elsewhere (1—3,6,18). 

As with all elec trochemical studies, the environment must be electrically conduc tive. The corrosion rate is direc tly dependent on the Tafel slope. The Tafel slope varies quite widely with the particular corroding system and generally with the metal under test. As with the Tafel extrapolation technique, the Tafel slope generally used is an assumed, more or less average value. Again, as with the Tafel technique, the method is not sensitive to local corrosion. 

Tafel slope (Napieran loop) transfer coefficient diffusion layer thickness dielectric constant, relative electric field constant = 8.85 x 10 F cm overvoltage, polarization ohmic voltage drop, resistance polarization specific conductance, conductivity electrochemical potential of material X,... 

This follows theTafei relationship w h a Tafel slope Of,2/3 RT/F = 0- 4 V. hce direct transfer of two electrons aS shown in equation 1.92 is highly unlikely, it Would, appear that the mechanism might involve a twO Step prOr cess in which one Step is rale determining, say... 

Turning now to the acidic situation, a report on the electrochemical behaviour of platinum exposed to 0-1m sodium bicarbonate containing oxygen up to 3970 kPa and at temperatures of 162 and 238°C is available. Anodic and cathodic polarisation curves and Tafel slopes are presented whilst limiting current densities, exchange current densities and reversible electrode potentials are tabulated. In weak acid and neutral solutions containing chloride ions, the passivity of platinum is always associated with the presence of adsorbed oxygen or oxide layer on the surface In concentrated hydrochloric acid solutions, the possible retardation of dissolution is more likely because of an adsorbed layer of atomic chlorine ... 

The effects of adsorbed inhibitors on the individual electrode reactions of corrosion may be determined from the effects on the anodic and cathodic polarisation curves of the corroding metaP . A displacement of the polarisation curve without a change in the Tafel slope in the presence of the inhibitor indicates that the adsorbed inhibitor acts by blocking active sites so that reaction cannot occur, rather than by affecting the mechanism of the reaction. An increase in the Tafel slope of the polarisation curve due to the inhibitor indicates that the inhibitor acts by affecting the mechanism of the reaction. However, the determination of the Tafel slope will often require the metal to be polarised under conditions of current density and potential which are far removed from those of normal corrosion. This may result in differences in the adsorption and mechanistic effects of inhibitors at polarised metals compared to naturally corroding metals . Thus the interpretation of the effects of inhibitors at the corrosion potential from applied current-potential polarisation curves, as usually measured, may not be conclusive. This difficulty can be overcome in part by the use of rapid polarisation methods . A better procedure is the determination of true polarisation curves near the corrosion potential by simultaneous measurements of applied current, corrosion rate (equivalent to the true anodic current) and potential. However, this method is rather laborious and has been little used. 

Blocking of reaction sites The interaction of adsorbed inhibitors with surface metal atoms may prevent these metal atoms from participating in either the anodic or cathodic reactions of corrosion. This simple blocking effect decreases the number of surface metal atoms at which these reactions can occur, and hence the rates of these reactions, in proportion to the extent of adsorption. The mechanisms of the reactions are not affected and the Tafel slopes of the polarisation curves remain unchanged. Behaviour of this type has been observed for iron in sulphuric acid solutions containing 2,6-dimethyl quinoline, /3-naphthoquinoline , or aliphatic sulphides . 

Participation in the electrode reactions The electrode reactions of corrosion involve the formation of adsorbed intermediate species with surface metal atoms, e.g. adsorbed hydrogen atoms in the hydrogen evolution reaction adsorbed (FeOH) in the anodic dissolution of iron . The presence of adsorbed inhibitors will interfere with the formation of these adsorbed intermediates, but the electrode processes may then proceed by alternative paths through intermediates containing the inhibitor. In these processes the inhibitor species act in a catalytic manner and remain unchanged. Such participation by the inhibitor is generally characterised by a change in the Tafel slope observed for the process. Studies of the anodic dissolution of iron in the presence of some inhibitors, e.g. halide ions , aniline and its derivatives , the benzoate ion and the furoate ion , have indicated that the adsorbed inhibitor I participates in the reaction, probably in the form of a complex of the type (Fe-/), or (Fe-OH-/), . The dissolution reaction proceeds less readily via the adsorbed inhibitor complexes than via (Fe-OH),js, and so anodic dissolution is inhibited and an increase in Tafel slope is observed for the reaction. 

Adsorbed species may also accelerate the rate of anodic dissolution of metals, as indicated by a decrease in Tafel slope for the reaction. Thus the presence of hydrogen sulphide in acid solutions stimulates the corrosion of iron, and decreases the Tafel slope The reaction path through... 

Fig. 19.10 Plots of the right-hand side of equation 19.16 w. AE = E combinations of Tafel slopes, (a) constant at 120 mV, varied, and (b) b ...

Figure 19.10a shows a theoretical plot of the right-hand side of equation 19.16 vs. AE in which the cathodic Tafel slope has been assumed to be constant at 120 mV and the anodic Tafel slope to have the arbitrary slopes of 40, 60 and 120 mV. It can be seen that linearity over a range of positive and negative potentials AE is achieved only when b = and that linearity is confined to AE 0 when b and b differ. 

In Fig. 19.106 it has been assumed that the Tafel slopes are equal, i.e. 6a = = b and the modified expression for the right-hand side of equa-... 

Determine from this plot the Tafel slopes 6, and 6 by curve fitting using the theoretical curves calculated for various values of 6 and 6,.. Calculate from equation 19.14 using the Rp, value evaluated in Step 1 and the Tafel slopes determined in Step 3. 

Attention should be drawn to the signs in equations 20.66 and 20.67 and it should be noted that the Tafel slope b is always positive for an anodic process and negative for a cathodic process and that the constant a is of opposite sign to the slope. 

These are the coefficients that determine the Tafel slope of the log / against q curve of a multistep reaction, and they are of fundamental importance in providing information on the mechanism of the reaction. Equations 20.86 and 20.87 are of the same form as equations 20.59 and 20.58 that were derived for a simple one-step reaction involving a symmetrical energy barrier, and under these circumstances equations 20.90 and 20.91 simplify to... 

The slope of the Tafel curve drj/d log / is only one of the criteria that are required to determine the mechanism of the h.e.r., since different mechanisms, involving different r.d.s. often have the same Tafel slope. Parameters that are diagnostic of mechanism are the transfer coefficient, the reaction order, the stoichiometric number, the hydrogen coverage, the exchange current density, the heat adsorption, etc. 

The ability to use the Tafel slope as a diagnostic criterion can be exemplified by considering a discharge-chemical desorption mechanism for the h.e.r. in which either discharge or chemical desorption may be rate determining. ... 

Thus a Tafel slope of -0-118 V/decade could be diagnostic of a discharge-chemical desorption mechanism in which proton discharge is the r.d.s. 

From the magnitude of the Tafel slope 3tj/3 log / ( 0-12V), the magnitude of dr)/d In ( 0-24 V) and the linearity of the J vs. /i curves for pure iron in H2SO4 and NaOH at various temperatures in the range 18-80°C, Bockris, et al. concluded that the mechanism conformed to the reaction sequence shown in equation 20.107. 

The Tafel slopes obtained under concentrations of the chemical components that we suspect act on the initiation reaction (monomer, electrolyte, water contaminant, temperature, etc.) and that correspond to the direct discharge of the monomer on the clean electrode, allow us to obtain knowledge of the empirical kinetics of initiation and nucleation.22-36 These empirical kinetics of initiation were usually interpreted as polymerization kinetics. Monomeric oxidation generates radical cations, which by a polycondensation mechanism give the ideal linear chains ... 

If we want to use the Tafel slopes to obtain the empirical kinetics of polymerization, we have to use a metallic electrode coated with a previously electrogenerated thin and uniform film of the polymer in a fresh solution of the monomer. In some cases experimental Tafel plots present the two components (Fig. 4) before and after coating. 

Both initiation and polymerization kinetics obtained from Tafel slopes (Fig. 5) are related to the formation of very thin films, which are not useful for most applications of conducting polymers. A similar restriction can be attributed to the combination of electrochemical and gravimet-... 

Third row Tafel slopes asing a clean platinum electrode Fourth row Tafel slopes using a polypynole electrode. Fifth row charges stored in every electrugcnerated film. ... 

Lefebvre, M. C. Establishing the Link Between Multistep Electrochemical Reaction Mechanisms and Experimental Tafel Slopes 32... 

---