Volume 74, 1982

Variation of the electrochemical transfer coefficient with potential

Abstract

The electrochemical electron-transfer rate constant has been determined as a function of the electrode potential for a series of simple electron-transfer processes to organic molecules in media containing acetonitrile or dimethylformamide and a quaternary ammonium salt as supporting electrolyte and using mercury as the electrode material. The reactions and the experimental conditions were selected so as to deal with outer-sphere processes and to minimize the magnitude of double-layer corrections. Convolution potential-sweep voltammetry and the impedance method were used for obtaining the kinetic data. Under these conditions, the electrochemical transfer coefficient was observed, in all cases, to vary, beyond experimental error, with the electrode potential. The magnitude of the variation is of the same order of magnitude as that predicted by the Marcus theory of outer-sphere electron transfer. A more complex reaction, the reduction of benzaldehyde in ethanol, involving dimerization steps following the initial electron transfer was also investigated. A definite variation of the transfer coefficient was again observed. This behaviour, observed for various solvents and functional groups, appears as a general phenomenon in the reduction of organic molecules in the case where charge transfer is fast and mainly governed by solvent reorganization.

Article information

Article type
Paper

Faraday Discuss. Chem. Soc., 1982,74, 57-72

Variation of the electrochemical transfer coefficient with potential

J. Savéant and D. Tessier, Faraday Discuss. Chem. Soc., 1982, 74, 57 DOI: 10.1039/DC9827400057

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