BOYE GLENDA NAA AYORKOR

8363721
BSC. BIOCHEMISTRY 2
BCHEM 259
TERM PAPER
CONCEPT OF ELECTROCHEMISTRY
Electrochemistry is the branch of physical chemistry concerned with the relationship between
electrical potential difference and identifiable chemical change with the potential difference as an
outcome of a particular chemical change or vice-versa. The reactions involve electrons moving
via an electronically-conducting phase between electrodes separated by an ionically conducting
and electronically insulating electrolyte.
When a chemical reaction is driven by an electrical potential difference, as in electrolysis, or if a
potential difference results from a chemical reaction as in an electric battery or fuel cell, it is
called an electrochemical reaction. Unlike in other chemical reactions, in electrochemical
reactions electrons are not transferred directly between atoms, ions or molecules but via the
aforementioned electronically-conducting circuit. This phenomenon is what distinguishes an
electrochemical reaction from a conventional chemical reaction.
Electrochemistry also involves the study of electrochemical cells, which are devices which
convert chemical energy into electrical energy or vice-versa. These cells typically involve two
electrodes, an anode and a cathode, and an electrolyte solution that facilitates the transfer of
electrons between the electrodes. When a redox reaction occurs in an electrochemical cell, a
potential difference or voltage is created between the two electrodes. This voltage can be
practically applied in batteries, fuel cells, electroplating and more.
Cell Notation
Cell notation is a shorthand method of representing an electrochemical cell. It includes the
identification of the two half-cells and the salt bridge. The anode is written on the left, and the
cathode is written on the right. A single vertical line represents the salt bridge. The oxidation
half-reaction is written on the left side of the vertical line, and the reduction half-reaction is
written on the right side of the vertical line.
Electrolytic and Galvanic Cell
These are electrochemical cells which produce electric current from energy released by a
spontaneous redox reaction. Electrochemical cells have two conductive electrodes (the anode and
the cathode). In between these electrodes is the electrolyte, which contains ions that can freely
move.
Galvanic cells are electrochemical cells which convert chemical energy into electrical energy.
The galvanic cell uses two different metal electrodes, each in an electrolyte where the positively
charged ions are the oxidized form of the electrode metal. One electrode will undergo oxidation
(the anode) and the other will undergo reduction (the cathode). The metal of the anode will
oxidize, going from an oxidation state of 0 (in the solid form) to a positive oxidation state and
become an ion. At the cathode, the metal ion in solution will accept one or more electrons from
the cathode and the ion's oxidation state is reduced to 0. This forms a solid metal that
electrodeposits on the cathode. The two electrodes must be electrically connected to each other,
allowing for a flow of electrons that leave the metal of the anode and flow through this
connection to the ions at the surface of the cathode. This flow of electrons is an electric current
that can be used to do work, such as turn a motor or power a light source.
Electrolytic cells, like galvanic cells, are composed of two half-cells; one is a reduction half-cell,
the other is an oxidation half-cell. The direction of electron flow in electrolytic cells, however,
may be reversed from the direction of spontaneous electron flow in galvanic cells, but the
definition of both cathode and anode remain the same, where reduction takes place at the cathode
and oxidation occurs at the anode. Because the directions of both half-reactions have been
reversed, the sign, but not the magnitude, of the cell potential has been reversed.
Electrolytic cells are very similar to voltaic (galvanic) cells in the sense that both require a salt
bridge, both have a cathode and anode side, and both have a consistent flow of electrons from the
anode to the cathode.
Oxidants and Reductants
The term "redox” stands for reduction-oxidation. It refers to electrochemical processes involving
electron transfer to or from a molecule or ion, changing its oxidation state. This reaction can
occur through the application of an external voltage or through the release of chemical energy.
Oxidation and reduction describe the change of oxidation state that takes place in the atoms, ions
or molecules involved in an electrochemical reaction. Formally, oxidation state is the
hypothetical charge that an atom would have if all bonds to atoms of different elements were
100% ionic. An atom or ion that gives up an electron to another atom or ion has its oxidation
state increase, and the recipient of the negatively charged electron has its oxidation state
decreased. The loss of electrons from an atom or molecule is called oxidation, and the gain of
electrons is reduction.
The atom or molecule which loses electrons is known as the reducing agent, or reductant, and the
substance which accepts the electrons is called the oxidizing agent, or oxidant. Thus, the
oxidizing agent is always being reduced in a reaction; the reducing agent is always being
oxidized.
Faraday’s Laws of Electrolysis
First Law
Faraday concluded after several experiments on electric current in a non-spontaneous process
that the mass of the products yielded on the electrodes was proportional to the value of current
supplied to the cell, the length of time the current existed, and the molar mass of the substance
analysed. In other words, the amount of a substance deposited on each electrode of an
electrolytic cell is directly proportional to the quantity of electricity passed through the cell.
Second Law
He formulated the second law of electrolysis stating "the amounts of bodies which are equivalent
to each other in their ordinary chemical action have equal quantities of electricity naturally
associated with them." In other words, the quantities of different elements deposited by a given
amount of electricity are in the ratio of their chemical equivalent weights.
Electrolytic Conductance
Electrolytic conductance is the measure of the ability of an electrolyte to conduct electricity. It
depends on the concentration of ions in the electrolyte, the mobility of the ions, and the
resistance of the solution.
Kohlrausch's Law of Independent Migration of Ions
Kohlrausch's law states that the limiting molar conductivity of an electrolyte can be calculated as
the sum of the individual contributions of the anions and cations, regardless of the nature of the
other ions present in the electrolyte.
Transport Number
The transport number is the fraction of the total current carried by a particular ion in an
electrolyte. It is a measure of the ability of an ion to move through the electrolyte.
Polarizability
Polarizability is a measure of how easily an electron cloud can be distorted by an electric field. It
is a property of molecules and ions that affects their interactions with other charged particles.
Polarizability increases with the size of the electron cloud and with the polarizability of the
atoms or ions involved.
Electromotive force
Electromotive force (EMF) is the potential difference between two electrodes in a voltaic cell or
battery. It represents the energy per unit charge that is available to be converted from chemical
energy to electrical energy.
Activity series of metals
The activity series of metals is a list of metals in order of their reactivity with aqueous solutions
of acids and bases. The most reactive metals are at the top of the series, while the least reactive
are at the bottom.
Nernst equation
The Nernst equation relates the equilibrium constant for a chemical reaction to the concentration
of reactants and products at a given temperature and pressure. It is commonly used to calculate
the potential difference of an electrochemical cell under non-standard conditions.
Batteries and Fuel Cells
A battery is an electrochemical cell or series of cells that produces an electric current. In
principle, any galvanic cell could be used as a battery. An ideal battery would never run down,
produce an unchanging voltage, and be capable of withstanding environmental extremes of heat
and humidity. There are two basic kinds of batteries: disposable, or primary, batteries, in which
the electrode reactions are effectively irreversible and which cannot be recharged; and
rechargeable, or secondary, batteries, which form an insoluble product that adheres to the
electrodes. These batteries can be recharged by applying an electrical potential in the reverse
direction. The recharging process temporarily converts a rechargeable battery Fuel Cells
A fuel cell is a galvanic cell that requires a constant external supply of reactants because the
products of the reaction are continuously removed. Unlike a battery, it does not store chemical or
electrical energy; a fuel cell allows electrical energy to be extracted directly from a chemical
reaction. In principle, this should be a more efficient process than, for example, burning the fuel
to drive an internal combustion engine that turns a generator, which is typically less than 40%
efficient, and in fact, the efficiency of a fuel cell is generally between 40% and 60%.
Unfortunately, significant cost and reliability problems have hindered the wide-scale adoption of
fuel cells from a galvanic cell to an electrolytic cell.
REFERENCES
 Brett, Christopher M. A. (1993). Electrochemistry : principles, methods, and
applications. Ana Maria Oliveira Brett. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN
 Richard P. Olenick, Tom M. Apostol, David L. Goodstein Beyond the mechanical
universe: from electricity to modern physics, Cambridge University Press (1986) ISBN
 R. Hellborg Electrostatic accelerators: fundamentals and applications(2005) ISBN p. 52
 Steven Weinberg The discovery of subatomic particles. Cambridge University Press
(2003) ISBN p. 15
 J. A. M. Bleeker, Johannes Geiss, M. Huber The century of space science, Volume 1,
Springer (2001) ISBN p. 227
 John Robert Norris, Douglas W. Ribbons (1972) Methods in microbiology, Volume 6,
Academic Press. ISBN p. 248
 Frederick Collier Bakewell Electric science; its history, phenomena, and applications,
Ingram, Cooke (1853) pp. 27–31
 Keith James Laidler The world of physical chemistry, Oxford University Press (1995)
ISBN pp. 219–220