Double-layer effects on simple electrode reactions I. The reduction of Eu 3+ and Cr 3+ in the absence of specific adsorption of the supporting electrolyte

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The kinetics of the reduction of Eu 3+ and Cr 3+ at mercury electrodes in various sodium and lanthanum perchlorate supporting electrolytes have been studied over as large a potential range as possible by using both chronocoulometry and d.c. polarography. The objective was to determine the effect of the diffuse double layer upon the reduction rates of these members of the simplest class of electrode reactions in the absence of specific adsorption. Possible additional influences from perchlorate specific adsorption, ion-pairing, and ionic strength-dependent formal potentials, and differences between the site of reaction and the o.H.p. were also considered. The effects of specific adsorption of an uncharged molecule were assessed by noting the changes in the reduction kinetics of Eu 3+ caused by the adsorption of thiourea. The classical Gouy-Chapman-Stern model of the double layer was found to give an adequate account of the behavior in relatively dilute lanthanum perchlorate solutions, but it failed badly in more concentrated sodium perchlorate media. Better agreement resulted if the statistical theory due to Krylov and Levich was employed but some discrepancies remained. The diffuse-layer properties evaluated here represent a useful basis for comparisons with systems where specific ionic adsorption of components of the supporting electrolyte adds a second component to the electrode surface charge density which determines the diffuse-layer potential.