Critique of the Mathematical Theory of Diffusion of Electroactive Species to Electrodes

Abstract

Abstract Rigorous mathematical treatment of the classical theory of diffusion of an electroactive species to an electrode exposes an error in the theory. According to the corrected theory, the initial concentration (at t = 0) of the electroactive species is uniform throughout the solution except at the electrode surface. Fortunately, diffusion theory results remain unaltered. Two important conclusions result from the corrected theory: a. the plane of the “electrode surface” is inside the diffuse double layer, and b. the exact function of the concentration of the electroactive species in the double layer has no effect on the solution of the diffusion equation. These results, although intuitively accepted, are rigorously proved.

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Identifiers

DOI

10.1002/ijch.196900020

Journal

Israel Journal of Chemistry

Year

1969