The Electrical Double-Layer Model

The factors which lead to the formation of an electrical double layer are rather general. First, charges flow across the interface when a thermodynamic equilibrium is established between the phases in contact second, it is charging processes, which are not generally related to charge transfer across the interface—for example, charging of surface states (see below), certain types of adsorption, etc. 

The semiconductor occupies the region to the right of the vertical solid line representing the interface (jc = 0). To the left of it, there is the Helmholtz layer formed by ions attracted to the electrode surface, and also by solvent molecules its thickness, L, is the order of the size of an ion. The space-charge region in the solution (the Gouy-Chapman layer) is adjacent to the Helmholtz layer from the electrolyte side. 

Let us denote the electric potential in the electrolyte solution bulk (for X -oo) by and in the semiconductor bulk (x oo) by The total potential drop across the interface Asc 5 / = 

the direction of the potential axis accepted in electrochemistry 

It is to be noted that the positive direction of the potential axis in the semiconductor is in conformity with the direction chosen as positive in the physical scale of energy (see Section 2.2). Indeed, in formula (17), the terms characterizing the position of the Fermi level and electrode potential have opposite signs. 

---

These theories are based on the interaction of the solute ion with the charged surface layer established by the adsorbed counterion and by adsorbed competing ions. The nonstochiometric models apply the Poisson-Boltzmann equation to estimate retention from an electrostatic point of view. The electrical double-layer model applied uses different approaches such as liquid partition , surface adsorption, diffuse layer ion-exchange , and sru face adsorption doublelayer models. It is not possible to draw conclusions about the ion pair process from chromatographic retention data, but each model and theory may find use in describing experimental results under the particular conditions studied. 

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]. 

A number of refinements and applications are in the literature. Corrections may be made for discreteness of charge [36] or the excluded volume of the hydrated ions [19, 37]. The effects of surface roughness on the electrical double layer have been treated by several groups [38-41] by means of perturbative expansions and numerical analysis. Several geometries have been treated, including two eccentric spheres such as found in encapsulated proteins or drugs [42], and biconcave disks with elastic membranes to model red blood cells [43]. The double-layer repulsion between two spheres has been a topic of much attention due to its importance in colloidal stability. A new numeri-... 

Stahlberg has presented models for ion-exchange chromatography combining the Gouy-Chapman theory for the electrical double layer (see Section V-2) with the Langmuir isotherm (. XI-4) [193] and with a specific adsorption model [194]. 

The model more generally accepted for metal/electrolyte interfaces envisages the electrical double layer as split into two parts the inner layer and the diffuse layer, which can be represented by two capacitances in series.1,3-7,10,15,32 Thus, the total differential capacitance C is equal to... 

Figure 10. Theoretical model for the electrical double layer at an electrode with a polycrystalline surface, (a) Model of independent diffuse layers [Eq. (S3)], and (b) model of common diffuse layer [Eq. (54)).

In the second group of models, the pc surface consists only of very small crystallites with a linear parameter y, whose sizes are comparable with the electrical double-layer parameters, i.e., with the effective Debye screening length in the bulk of the diffuse layer near the face j.262,263 In the case of such electrodes, inner layers at different monocrystalline areas are considered to be independent, but the diffuse layer is common for the entire surface of a pc electrode and depends on the average charge density <7pc = R ZjOjOj [Fig. 10(b)]. The capacitance Cj al is obtained by the equation... 

Various pc electrode models have been tested.827 Using the independent diffuse layer electrode model74,262 the value of E n = -0.88 V (SCE) can be simulated for Cd + Pb alloys with 63% Pb if bulk and surface compositions coincide. However, large deviations of calculated and experimental C,E curves are observed at a 0. Better correspondence between experimental and calculated C,E curves was obtained with the common diffuse-layer electrode model,262 if the Pb percentage in the solid phase is taken as 20%. However, the calculated C, at a Ois noticeably lower than the experimental one. It has been concluded that Pb is the surface-active component in Cd + Pb alloys, but there are noticeable deviations from electrical double-layer models for composite electrodes.827... 

The Electrical Double Layer The Current Status of Data and Models, with Reeves, R. M. 9... 

According to the model proposed by Verwey and Niessen (1939), an electric double layer is formed at an ITIES, which consists of two ionic space charge regions. As a whole the electric double layer is electrically neutral, so for the excess charge density in the part of the double layer in the aqueous phase, and for the part in the organic phase,... 

The description of the ion transfer process is closely related to the structure of the electrical double layer at the ITIES [50]. The most widely used approach is the combination of the BV equation and the modified Verwey-Niessen (MVN) model. In the MVN model, the electrical double layer at the ITIES is composed of two diffuse layers and one ion-free or inner layer (Fig. 8). The positions delimiting the inner layer are denoted by X2 and X2, and represent the positions of closest approach of the transferring ion to the ITIES from the organic and aqueous side, respectively. The total Galvani potential drop across the interfacial region, AgCp = cj) — [Pg.545]

Fig. 4.1 Structure of the electric double layer and electric potential distribution at (A) a metal-electrolyte solution interface, (B) a semiconductor-electrolyte solution interface and (C) an interface of two immiscible electrolyte solutions (ITIES) in the absence of specific adsorption. The region between the electrode and the outer Helmholtz plane (OHP, at the distance jc2 from the electrode) contains a layer of oriented solvent molecules while in the Verwey and Niessen model of ITIES (C) this layer is absent...

At present it is impossible to formulate an exact theory of the structure of the electrical double layer, even in the simple case where no specific adsorption occurs. This is partly because of the lack of experimental data (e.g. on the permittivity in electric fields of up to 109 V m"1) and partly because even the largest computers are incapable of carrying out such a task. The analysis of a system where an electrically charged metal in which the positions of the ions in the lattice are known (the situation is more complicated with liquid metals) is in contact with an electrolyte solution should include the effect of the electrical field on the permittivity of the solvent, its structure and electrolyte ion concentrations in the vicinity of the interface, and, at the same time, the effect of varying ion concentrations on the structure and the permittivity of the solvent. Because of the unsolved difficulties in the solution of this problem, simplifying models must be employed the electrical double layer is divided into three regions that interact only electrostatically, i.e. the electrode itself, the compact layer and the diffuse layer. 

Vorotyntsev, M. A., and A. A. Kornyshev, Models for description of collective properties of the metal/electrolyte contact in the electrical double-layer theory, Elektrokhimiya, 20, 3 (1984). 

The electrified interface is generally referred to as the electric double layer (EDL). This name originates from the simple parallel plate capacitor model of the interface attributed to Helmholtz.1,9 In this model, the charge on the surface of the electrode is balanced by a plane of charge (in the form of nonspecifically adsorbed ions) equal in magnitude, but opposite in sign, in the solution. These ions have only a coulombic interaction with the electrode surface, and the plane they form is called the outer Helmholtz plane (OHP). Helmholtz s model assumes a linear variation of potential from the electrode to the OHP. The bulk solution begins immediately beyond the OHP and is constant in potential (see Fig. 1). 

In the electrochemical literature one finds the Gouy-Chapman (GC) and Gouy-Chapman-Stern (GCS) approaches as standard models for the electric double layer [9,10]. 

The description of the sorption of charged molecules at a charged interface includes an electrostatic term, which is dependent upon the interfacial potential difference, Ai//(V). This term is in turn related to the surface charge density, electric double layer model. The surface charge density is calculated from the concentrations of charged molecules at the interface under the assumption that the membrane itself has a net zero charge, as is the case, for example, for membranes constructed from the zwitterionic lecithin. Moreover,... 

Some emphasis is given in the first two chapters to show that complex formation equilibria permit to predict quantitatively the extent of adsorption of H+, OH , of metal ions and ligands as a function of pH, solution variables and of surface characteristics. Although the surface chemistry of hydrous oxides is somewhat similar to that of reversible electrodes the charge development and sorption mechanism for oxides and other mineral surfaces are different. Charge development on hydrous oxides often results from coordinative interactions at the oxide surface. The surface coordinative model describes quantitatively how surface charge develops, and permits to incorporate the central features of the Electric Double Layer theory, above all the Gouy-Chapman diffuse double layer model. 

Yates, D. E., S. Levine, and T. W. Healy (1974), "Site-binding Model of the Electrical Double Layer at the Oxide/Water Interface", J. Chem. Soc. Faraday Trans. 70,1807. 

Surface complexation models for the oxide-electrolyte interface are reviewed two models for surface hydrolysis reactions are considered (diprotic surface groups and monoprotic surface groups) and four models for the electric double layer (Helmholtz,... 

---